


Galaxy on the Edge of Forever

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Gen, Movie: Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, blink and miss it fusion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-04 10:10:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 36,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16344803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: The crew of pirates Kix ended up with wound up on a peculiar planet, with a device that might be able to alter the flow of time itself. Kix puts that to the test, and winds up with his General... who is still a padawan.





	1. The Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> The Guardian of Forever, and its dialogue, is from Star Trek's "City on the Edge of Forever" and other parts of ST canon. I had the image of Kix, it, and the comment about the thawing hit me... and Yena ran with me on this idea.

"I am the Guardian of Forever. A gateway to your own past, if you wish."

Kix listened to the others arguing, and focused on the stone ring with its moving images in the center. They wanted a way to profit. He wanted to save his brothers. He wanted to make the Sith pay for what they had done. 

His eyes stayed on the moving images, his heart thinking over it all, wishing he could just change the entire path of the war. The scenes shifted, and he saw a lone figure speeding across a desert vista, one in dark colors, riding the speeder bike with single-minded intensity.

Was the Guardian listening to his heart? 

"Look, I appreciate the thawing, but I've got to go now," Kix said, before dashing forward at full speed, diving through the energy of that image of the speeder bike and its rider.

It flung him out into a desert night, near a cliff, with a nomad camp in sight… and the rider just making an impossible leap down to the same level he was on.

Details were not quite right, but Kix knew, in his soul, he was seeing his general. The connection that existed was calling to him strongly. He moved to fall in on his general's side, moving swiftly and silently, until his general -- 

\-- his general had a padawan braid. And was wearing an actual Jedi robe --

\-- had noticed him. Kix immediately signed that he was there to help and realized the general didn't know battle sign.

"Here to help. Lead on," he said as quietly as he could, willing his general to feel the honest wish to help.

Anakin had felt the Force roil and twist, something changing... and then there was a stranger, but a human, not a Tusken. Not a threat, he felt more than thought, and then the man... gestured, but they didn't make sense. The Jedi had some hand-signs, but not those. He seemed to realize Anakin didn't understand, and spoke. Just barely quietly enough for the Tuskens not to hear, and he flung his senses out, testing as much as he could.

The camp was asleep, even the guards on the one tent -- that had to be where Mom was -- not hearing. He could feel no deceit in the man, though he didn't understand how he could be here, only a wish to help, to aid, and a deep mix of loyalty and love that was somehow, bafflingly, fixed on.. him.

He studied the man for another moment, then nodded. "They have my mother," he murmured back. "In there. I have to save her."

His general's _buir_? They'd never heard of her. With his general still wearing the braid, this was before the war, because he'd been knighted before he was steadily helping the 212th, and later given command of the 501st.

Kix nodded, and shifted his arm to show the red symbol for a medic he had painstakingly stitched in on the clothes he'd been given by his finders. Since it was a galactic symbol, it should bring the point across, even as he let his blasters in their thigh holsters speak for themselves.

A medic. Medic and fighter, that wasn't normal in the Core, but it just made his heart leap with relief. Not unusual on the Rim, where they had to defend both patients and their supplies. He wasn't a good healer, but with a medic... maybe...

He nodded once, sharply, and flicked his lightsaber on almost against the wall of the hut as a pair of anooba started to fight, covering the slight noise. He cut them an opening in the flimsy wall that collapsed in front of them.

Blood-scent and other, worse odors hit his nose as he ducked through it, but all he could see was the rack his mother was tied to, the blood covering her hands, the cuts on her face, the red ruin of her back -- but she was breathing. He covered the distance in a heartbeat, his hands working to free her from the lashings, holding her up off the filthy floor as he whispered desperately, "Mom? Mom!"

There was a red rage at the back of his mind, but he could feel her breathing, and he tried to feel for her in the Force. So faint, so weak... weak as her voice as she whispered, "Ani?"

Kix had seen horrible things, but it always hit him worse when it was a civilian suffering. They didn't belong in the crossfire. That it was his general's parent only added layers of anger and worry both to his initial reaction to the torture scene.

"Get her down, sir, gently, on her front. I've got stims and narcs to get her stable with, while you push energy for her," Kix said, knowing damned well that his general was likely on the verge of an emotional storm, if not already in it.

He had to be like Rex, or the Commander, and focus the general toward productive use of that strength, not letting it rage carelessly.

"I'm here, Mom," Anakin whispered back, as her ragged fingers reached for his cheek, barely hearing the stranger's words -- but he had to hear them, had to listen, if the man was going to help Mom. "There's a doctor, he's going to help you, just -- just hold on. Don't go."

Letting her out of his arms was the hardest thing he'd ever done, and he yanked a bundle of rags to him with a thought, to support her head. The thin cry she made ripped through his chest, and he clung to her shoulder, feeling his eyes burn with tears he couldn't let fall. "It's -- it's okay, I'm here, I promise, he'll help, I --"

"Shh," his mother whispered softly, as though he was three and having a nightmare, barely enough to hear, with her head turned, "you're here, I... I'm... all right. I got to see -- "

" _No_ ," he hissed, " _no_. Don't you give up. I won't let you go."

"Ma'am, you listen to your son. He's one of the strongest Jedi out there. You let him help you," Kix said, focusing the woman away from the relief of being found, of being out of that crippling position. He was already getting an injection in, using the so-called undead juice, a cocktail of steroids and painkillers that could keep near-mortal wounds from being fatal by forcing the body to continue to work. "Sir, give her your help," Kix added. "I know it's not your best skill, but you can do it!"

He knew his familiarity with Anakin would, eventually, cause questions, but right now, he was betting on his general just wanting to do anything he could to save this woman.

Kix was right there with him on that, as he glimpsed a piece of the underlying tragedy Rex had never actually learned the whole of.

The praise shocked him, as much or more than the obvious familiarity this total stranger showed. He knew him, had faith in him (that was a rush, something that was warm and soft and helped clear the rage), and Anakin had no idea who he was. But he didn't have time to think, he had to help Mom, he _had_ to.

Angry and afraid and sick as he was, it was hard to focus himself, hard to pull the healing ability into focus, into... "There's not -- she's so weak -- "

Give her _your_ help, the man had said, and he grabbed clumsily for his own strength, the power that meant so many in the Temple distrusted him, and pushed it into her, focused on keeping her alive. It wasn't how he'd been taught, but it -- he could do it, he could.

It was a bit like sharing energy with Obi-Wan in the middle of a fight, but more focused… and the medic's shoulders changed a little with relief as the effect was felt. Anakin's mother slipped toward unconsciousness, but her breathing was steady, and Kix was rapidly applying patches to the worst of the wounds.

"Sir, you need to get her back to help quickly, now," the man said softly after several minutes of using his entire medkit's contents to stabilize the woman. "I can evade these people and follow your trail, but she should be in a proper environment now to heal."

"It's a long way," Anakin answered, the words breaking his focus on the sharing -- and as it broke, he realized how exhausted he was. But Mom needed help, as soon as he could get it. The man was right about that. "I left in full light. But the speeder can't carry three, you're right. I -- I'll come back. As soon as I get her home.

"East, past the jawa sandcrawler."

How was he going to get Mom up the cliff? Could he jump with her in his arms?

No choice. He had to.

"I'll meet you partway there then, sir," Kix told him, gripping his shoulder briefly. All his loyalty in his general poured through.

It didn't matter that Kix had learned some really ugly truths during his time awake. Right now, right here, his general was a good man… and maybe saving the mother was going to shore that up.

+++

Anakin had gotten his mother into Lars' and Beru's care, with them heading off for Tosche Station swiftly. Padmé was doing damage control with Cliegg, who was beside himself for giving up hope.

That let the exhausted Jedi turn back into the desert to get the stranger-that-was-not-a-stranger. WIth nothing but sand around him, Anakin turned over the interactions, and wondered just what was happening, because that man knew him… and believed in him.

He noticed as the lone speck ahead checked up, stopping motion, as the speeder bike came in view, and then started jogging again after a moment to identify the bike. Anakin thought it was a bit like a bounty hunter, always professionally paranoid. 

Kix, for his part, eased hands off his blasters, and kept going. He was damned glad he'd kept a grenade in hand through the run, but apparently the nomads either didn't know they'd lost their captive, or hadn't picked up his trail once they noticed. And now his general was here.

"Good to see you, sir. She's with a medic now?" Kix asked as the bike came to a rest.

"Yes," Anakin nodded. "My... step-brother," the word felt unfamiliar and strange, "and his girlfriend took her in the landspeeder to the closest doctor, someone they trust." He turned to drag a canteen up from behind him on his right, holding it out. "Here. Jogging in this heat, you have to need it.

"Who _are_ you, anyway? You know me, but I... have no idea who you are."

And he wasn't _that_ bad at people. 

His General was holding out a canteen to him, in his right hand -- and it was flesh and bone, smooth light skin. Not a glove, not the gold-chased silver. Skin. His General hadn't been hurt yet? Storms, how did he keep it from happening? 

"Short story? I'm just a _vod_ who was in a good place to actually, maybe, change the whole kriffing mess ahead of my brothers," Kix said. "The long one is complicated and has things I don't even believe despite living them, like jumping through a portal in time."

The sheer deadpan of the words meant Anakin didn't really register them for a few seconds. And even then, they weren't... was it just that he was so tired? He blinked, scrubbing one hand across his eyes, and repeated uncertainly, "Jumping... through a portal... in time?"

"Yes sir, swear it on my blasters," Kix said solemnly. "You need sleep, but I know better than to offer to pilot this thing," he added as he climbed on. "Let's get somewhere safe, sir."

The signs of sleep dep were severe. That twitch in the corner of the eye was one that came on only after weeks of sleep deprivation, Kix knew.

Anakin snorted, but the way the medic climbed on and wrapped his arms securely meant that even as exhausted as he was, he could feel the sincerity of the man in the Force, feel the surety. "I'm fine," he said, automatic denial that anything was wrong, same one he'd been using for weeks, "but we should get out of the sun."

He dragged the speeder-bike around to head back towards the farmstead. "What's your name, though?"

"Medic Kix," Kix answered immediately, long habit of position and name going together too hard to break. He only barely bit off 'of the 501st, Torrent Company' that went with a full introduction. That would be for later.

Storms, but if he was right, and they were before the war, he was, even now, stuck on Kamino with the rest of his brothers, waiting on Call to Action! That thought broke his brain nearly as badly as that braid hanging off his general's head.

"Thank you, Kix," Anakin replied, settling the name in against his heart, "thank you so, so much. If you hadn't been -- if I'd -- "

His voice broke, exhaustion or barely beaten-back fright, he wasn't sure, and his hands tightened around the bike's handles for a moment.

"Sir," Kix said, firmly, but not harshly. "Don't dwell on the might have beens. I promise you we have plenty of problems to solve. Worrying about what didn't happen? Is a waste of who you are. Focus on the things you can and will do!"

Was that as good as Rex would have done? Probably not. Certainly it wasn't as sarcasm-laden as the Commander would have gone with -- he really didn't want to know how tiny she had to be right now -- but it should hit the right notes.

"I Saw her dying," Anakin told the wind, more than Kix, voice barely there, before he let the words sink in. They weren't cold, didn't tell him not to feel... they were just... firm, steady and clear. They were also probably right. It wouldn't do any good to keep thinking about it, to keep tasting blood in the air, when there was --

There were all the threats to Padmé's life, the bounty hunter Obi-Wan had gone chasing after... "You're right," he said, lifting his voice to be clearly heard. "That -- thanks. Again." 

"I'm here for you, sir, through this all. Because you will save my brothers. I know it." Kix poured his faith out in those words.

Whatever had made Vader had to be like the chips; Kix just had to subvert that, and let his general make everyone pay.

Okay, so there was a condition to it... nothing new there, but that sheer faith -- and it was a faith he would help people -- was comforting, almost more than he could stand, and Anakin relaxed into it. The wind was too loud to really hold a conversation, so he went quiet, until suddenly he saw the eye-fooling gleaming reflective silver of the Nubian yacht coming towards them, low to the ground, clicks from the homestead. He braked hard on a rise, staring. Why... what had happened now?

"That's the Senator's personal ship," Kix said, recognizing the lines. A piece of memory wriggled at him. Were they right on the cusp of war? The Senator had been at First Geonosis.

"Yes," Anakin agreed, tense with worry, as the ship touched down. So he knew Padmé, too. Was that good? "It is. Why she left the farm, though, I can't -- it can't be anything good. She said she'd wait."

"We'll handle whatever it is," Kix said as the ramp came down for them. 

Artoo whistled sharply in the 'come on' way that Kix was off the bike and jogging up the ramp in moments.

Anakin blinked at the speed of Kix's response, but was grateful not to have to worry about a passenger as he eased the bike up the ramp -- he couldn't abandon it, no matter what Artoo was whistling about. He strapped it against a wall quickly, and called, "What is it, Artoo? Padmé?"

"Come quickly, Ani; Artoo took a message from Obi-Wan," Padmé called back. "It -- oh you must be the man that helped with Lady Skywalker," she said as Kix came into view.

"Yes ma'am. I'm Medic Kix," he added, giving her a polite nod, even as he marveled at how young she looked. Was it the lack of weight the war had brought on all it touched? 

Artoo had allowed the stranger aboard because he'd listened, about the way Shmi Skywalker had been rescued. He decided the human wasn't terrible and maybe even good at how politely he spoke to Padmé.

Anakin ran on forward, to a better spot to sit, at least -- he was so tired, even the adrenaline of a message probably scolding him for leaving Naboo wasn't enough to keep him standing in the cool of the ship. He found the little message projector, and dropped close to it. "Okay, Artoo."

The little droid plugged into the ship and activated the projector. His Master popped into view. "Anakin, my long-range transmitter is knocked out. Retransmit this message to Coruscant. I have tracked the bounty hunter Jango Fett to the droid foundries of Geonosis. The Trade Federation is to take delivery of a droid army here and it is clear that Viceroy Gunray is behind the assassination attempts on Senator Amidala. The Commerce Guild and Corporate Alliance have both pledged their armies to Count Dooku and are forming an -- Wait, what?!"

His master swung around, lightsaber flashing to life as blaster bolts were caught in the image. He dodged, fleeing, a droideka stalked into view, firing, and the image broke up.

Anakin's heart froze in his chest. His Master was the greatest Jedi in the galaxy, his tendency to treat him like he was still nine aside, but... an entire army? And the retired, maybe-Fallen, Jedi that had been Master Qui-Gon's Master, there too?

"I wasn't willing to send this to the Council without you, Ani," Padmé said, "but I have the relay queued, now that you've seen it."

"It starts with this," Kix whispered, as those names and the location made his blood pulse hard. "It starts today… and storms you -- " He cut himself off from those words, even as he was staring at Anakin. His general had walked onto Geonosis in the aftermath of losing his mother? Like that? 

"What?" Padmé asked, even as she flipped the switches to transmit, seeing that Anakin had frozen up.

"I'll say more once the comm is over, ma'am," Kix promised.

Anakin half-nodded his agreement, and forced himself to move, to speak to the first person at the Temple and demand a direct connection to the Council for his Master. Soon, the display was split between Obi-Wan and the Council Chamber, in the persons of Mace and Yoda and some of the others.

"He is alive," Yoda said, and Anakin's legs nearly crumpled out from under him at the added, "I feel him in the Force."

Mom was alive, if terribly hurt. His Master was alive, but now a prisoner. He couldn't help Mom any more, but he could still help his Master. There were a few exchanges, about there being much at work, and then Master Windu ordered him to stay where he was and protect Padmé.

"But, Master -- "

"No," Master Windu said. "We will see to Dooku, and your Master."

The hologram switched off before he could protest any more. 

Padmé glared at where he had been. "I am beginning to dislike that man. I told him Count Dooku was behind things." She then started setting coordinates on the console, prepping for leaving this desolate planet. "Ani, you have to follow your orders. As a Senator of the Republic, and closest to the Jedi at risk, I must go negotiate his release," she said, a corner of her mouth quirked up even as Artoo very clearly recorded her words, to absolve Anakin later of any failure to obey.

Kix had to smile, even as he worried. This was how the Senator and his General wound up at the first battle of the war? Going to rescue his other general?

Anakin bit off a moment's laugh -- it was nice to not be the only one disliking the Master of the Order, for once -- but he stared at her back. "What, did you already figure out the route?"

"Of course I did. I had the whole trip here," Padmé answered.

"Padmé, he gave me strict orders to stay here and keep you safe..." he protested, but mostly only to cover how much he agreed with her. How desperate he was to go.

"They have half a galaxy to cross!" Padmé replied, "we're less than a parsec away. I'm going to go help him, but come take the helm; you're the better pilot."

"Yes, milady," Anakin answered, afraid for her, for his Master, a little for himself, but he couldn't deny her.

"And you!" Padmé whirled to look at Kix. "Need to explain, quickly, what you meant and how you came to help Anakin when he most needed someone. It's a bit convenient, and I'm tired of assassination attempts."

"Ma'am! I'd **never**!" Kix protested that insinuation with every fibre of his being. "You're one of the few Senators that ever gave a care about us!" 

A glance at Anakin, and Padmé seemed satisfied by that response, if still confused. "What starts with this, then?"

"War, Senator. You will go in good faith, but there is no faith to be had with them. The Seppies are poised to invade several systems, as soon as the Order gives them their excuse on Geonosis," Kix said soberly. "I know, ma'am, because as I told my gen -- as I told Skywalker, I jumped through a time portal to try and fix this whole mess."

Anakin felt Padmé's baffled stare, her glance at him, and he half-shrugged, half-nodded. "The Force put him there, I felt it.... do something. And then there was someone where no-one could have gotten without me knowing.

"After that, I guess time travel makes sense, even if it sounds like one of Knight Eerin's holodramas." 

"I refuse to go into this thinking I will fail," Padmé said firmly.

"Maybe you won't." Kix looked at her with similar faith in her as he had in Anakin. "But you must guard your mind against what I said, or those invasions might start even before Master Yoda comes for my brothers.

"Go. Negotiate as you would. And I'm going to try to get to the place that was described in the briefings, after, to try and do the most good I can. Fett's going to be there… but I'm not that good. Rex might have been at this point, but not me. So I'll focus on the Seppies instead."

"The bounty hunter Obi-Wan was chasing?" Anakin asked, just to be sure, then asked, as he pushed the yacht into its hyperspace jump, "Who is he?" 

"Our progenitor," Kix said grimly. "I can't help but think he knew the full plan… and I kind of hope he makes it out of things this time around so me and my brothers can make him aware of how dishonorable we find him."

"Progenitor… you don't mean father." Padmé looked at him intently. "I'm not going to like this answer, am I?"

Kix snorted. "You, at least, were always kind to us, even if we were just clones."

Anakin hissed, straightening up in the seat to his full height and turning it in one motion, feeling the jarring truth of that, too. Clones. 

Copied people, created people. Lots of people, from the tone of Kix's voice, and something in the back of his mind screamed. 

No-one would break that law without expecting to profit from it, and profiting from people -- "Who?" he asked, and then, "And how bad is it going to be to try --" he cut himself off, because no, there could be no try, not in this, "no. To free you? All of you." 

Kix looked at him steadily. "From the end plan? Save that for after Geonosis. From the Republic? Wouldn't know. History told me that we pretty much vanished into the Imperial Army once our part was done."

"Imperial -- No, Kix is right. What he knows, we need, but the jump to Geonosis isn't long enough," Padmé said. "Kix, I'm asking you to stay alive through all this."

"Planning on it, ma'am. My brothers are counting on me, even if they don't know it yet, and think Call to Action is the best thing to ever happen."

Anakin growled, not even vaguely quietly, but Padmé was right. This jump wasn't long enough. They only had an hour or so, and getting pulled into whoever and however this atrocity had begun wasn't going to help anyone. Especially not his Master. 

He wasn't going to be a whole lot of help either, if he didn't get at least a little rest. "You're right. I can't -- I can't help, if we get deep into this. I... have to try to trance, to rest, while there's time. I haven't slept in..." 

He shook his head, unable to count the days exactly.

"I'm out of stims," Kix agreed. "I've got the watch, sir, while you do."

The depths of loyalty in those words were like any of her handmaidens speaking them, and Padmé was only more intrigued by this man.


	2. Geonosis

Avoiding notice when a Jedi, a Senator, and an astromech like Artoo were on the rampage -- because of course it had quickly become a noisy rampage -- proved easy enough for Kix, having all the memory of the briefings from after this first fight to guide him. He knew things would culminate in the arena, and he had fresh charges for his blasters.

Sniping Jango was such a tempting thought, knowing how many times through their training how he had praised the project for producing soldiers that would 'do their job well'. However, realistically, Dooku was the higher priority. He wished he had a rifle, but the blasters were his better weapon; they'd have to be enough.

He stayed alert, as much as he could, only half-dozing through the damned cold night, until at last, the event he'd heard of began. They were dragging his first general out, chaining him up… and not half an hour later, a chariot brought the other pair out too.

Dooku stepping out was a moment he thought he should live in, take the full initiative and just make the shot, but his logic reminded him that acting too early would kill the Senator and his two generals. So he held back, held back as chaos exploded with the escape attempts -- and kriff, but the Senator really was amazing. She'd been the first loose, and the way she fought the cat-thing... the General really was lucky. Boba was there, beside Jango, and Kix swallowed hard at seeing their littlest brother bouncing eagerly at the chaos, excitement painting his face. 

The droidekas that rolled in, seven of them trapping his generals, and the Senator, almost stopped his heart. What if he'd changed something too much, what if -- and then the hidden Jedi began revealing themselves. 

It was time… and kriffing storms but the line of fire was all wrong for Dooku! If he missed at all, he'd kill the Master of the Order. If Dooku sensed and deflected it, it would be General Windu that would be the one killed, too. He had to content himself with that sniveling coward from the Trade Federation, before he was taking targets to protect the Jedi on the sands as waves of tinnies and clankers alike poured onto the sands. Taking out Gunray had made Dooku back into the depth of the entrance to the balcony, kark it all. 

He did what he could to help, shooting tinnies that were too close to _jetii_ he knew, or just Jedi, but his eyes sought the bright white of the Senator, the black of his General, and the pale cream of his High General. He'd never had much interest in women, in anyone that wasn't Jesse or sometimes Rex -- but watching the Senator fight was... surely something. 

There were just too many clankers, though, and none of the Jedi seemed to have the karking sense to escape. He shot the giant green thing that had been hunting General Kenobi in the eye, watched it fall, and took a breath of relief. He saw the flash of silver and blue entering the battlefield, hunting Windu -- who was chased by the big tusked beast -- and shot the beast once and Jango once, hoping to drive their progenitor to run. Boba was there, on the balcony, he didn't deserve to watch his father die -- 

\-- and then there were three Geonosian drones flying at him and he had to defend himself for a minute. 

How long the fight lasted, none of the fighters could tell, as death and destruction became the name of the game. When Kix got free of his attackers, he no longer saw the silver and blue or Boba, so maybe their progenitor would live to face the wrath of the Vod'e An.

In defending himself, Kix had to give up some of the high ground, working his way down through the stands to get to his general's side. A sniper, once exposed, was useless, but he could help down there, with his kit that was restocked from the Senator's ship, or to fight with blasters at their sides. He'd almost reached the sands when the herding began, pushing the survivors toward a central point… and Kix knew. 

Dooku was bold again, arguing with Windu at the edge of the balcony, but Kix didn't care about the words. His whole body was on alert for the first vibrations in the air, and yet the Senator was even more aware, calling out the arrival of ships.

His brothers were here. 

The Larties dropped, half-a-dozen in the first few moments, the shadow of destroyers above them passing over the sands, and those exploded with blaster fire from cannons and rifles. 

This close... he stopped for a moment, rocked by the sight. They were _shiny_. All of their armor Phase One and unpainted, a few officers-blazons on some chestplates, but... shiny. Rex was somewhere in that, and Jesse and the rest of Torrent. Some of Ghost -- and Kix jumped the balcony and ran like _haran_ for his General, blasters in either hand taking out droids as he ran. 

Anakin's eyes snapped sideways, saw Kix bolting, and yelled, "He's with me!" before any Jedi swung a saber at the human they didn't know. It seemed to stay a number of bolts from some of the armored people swooping down to save their tails, too. 

Somewhere above, he was ready to receive injured, in his own shiny armor. Kix couldn't think about that, or those of his brothers he was closest to down here. He had to be ready to help the generals for when Dooku bolted. Could they catch him here? A capture might reveal far more than a kill would be worth, he realized, because otherwise, he had a slogging minefield to cut through to reveal who the real Sith terror was.

A glance up said that Dooku was gone, though, and he cursed under his breath as he jumped into the Lartie a step behind his general -- Commander, kriff it, right now his general was a Commander. He ducked to avoid the sudden swing of an elbow from General Kenobi, and then his _jetii_ was in front of him. 

"Master! Master, it's okay. He's with us." 

Obi-Wan looked past Anakin, seeing that face, the smirk on Kamino, through the haze of his own mental and emotional unbalance. Then, the survival part of him caught up, the part that let him emulate all the ways a Jedi should be, masking the furor of emotions he was struggling with.

So many dead, all because he had underestimated the mission -- 

\-- Focusing past that, he saw the slight signs that set this man apart from Jango. "Welcome then."

Kix wondered just what trauma was working on his general, because there were several facial ticks and muscular hints that told the medic all was far from well. "I just want Dooku caught, here and now," he said firmly, to show the general whose side he was fully on.

"We have to catch him, or things are going to get much worse," Padmé said, using the tone of authority as a Senator of the Republic, helping Obi-Wan settle in his skin even more.

Anakin nodded, trying to reassure his Master with his eyes, one hand reaching to lay on his shoulder. "Any advice, Kix?" 

"No, sir, sorry. Don't have the faintest idea where he is or where that damned ship might be hidden," he answered, shaking his head. He wished to the tides he did, that he could help, but... "As long as the queens are alive below, though, we're never going to take this kriffing planet. Better to pull back and set up interdictors, than fight on the ground except to find that _hutu'un_." 

"Queens?" Obi-Wan asked, then shook his head. "Let's focus on the Count," and Anakin felt, through the bond, just how important that was to his master, blazing in the mental link of skin to skin contact, and almost… almost… blotting out the fear.

"We'll find a way," Padmé said, firmly optimistic.

How, when they had no idea where he might have vanished to in the labyrinth of Geonosis? 

There was fighting enough, though, and his _jetii_ showed that cunning clearly as they flew -- though Kix winced at the half-compliment, half-slap of 'good, my young padawan' -- but then, General Kenobi shouted "Look, there!" 

And Kix saw the Count's speeder, escorted by two fighters, ahead of and below them. Okay, that part was good, but also kriff. 

The pursuit started then, and their ship was soon targeted as a threat. Kix glanced at the troops in the ship with him, placing them as part of a squadron that eventually would be part of the 91st, under General Gallia. They had a CC series commander… Points. One of his squadron was rumored to have actually gotten the attention of a Handmaiden even, though no one knew the truth.

"Senator, grab a st--" Kix found himself saying just before the ship got buffeted hard enough to trigger just what Kix had remembered hearing from vod'e gossip.

Anakin had turned towards Padmé as Kix spoke, which only meant he saw her fall too clearly, along with the soldier next to her. He'd tried to catch her with the Force and failed, and her name burst from his mouth in a desperate scream. 

"She'll be fine, sir!" Kix quickly said, feeling, more than seeing, the explosion on its way from the general. "She's got Points with her, and storms if he'll let anything happen to a Senator!" He needed his words to land quickly, knowing how irrational Skywalker was over her. He ignored the stiffening of the men behind him, as the fact he knew one of their names, secrets that were only shared among batchmates, registered.

Anakin focused on him, rather than on his Master drawing breath to lecture him about something, his eyes narrowing. Kix knew things, was -- 

"You swear it?" 

The ripple in the armored figures warned him something more than he knew had been in those words, but that was something for later. 

"On my blasters, sir," Kix swore, a thing no Mando would ever take lightly. That too was evident from the men with them, as they all speculated, on helmet comms, who this was, when he looked and talked like them but was closer to Jango's age.

It had also given Obi-Wan time to temper his reaction, and when he spoke, it was in a calmer voice. "Anakin, you know she'd expect duty first."

Anakin growled, low in his throat, but between Kix's promise -- he'd known Padmé, when he saw her, respected her, she'd come through this just fine, and that... She wasn't dead on those sands, just stunned. She was all right, and the soldier would bring her safely. He sucked a breath, then another, and nodded tightly. "She would," he had to admit, his mouth still tight, but... she would be okay. Kix promised. 

That didn't change his need to protect her, but it did calm it enough that he could focus. "Dooku. Right. Okay.

"Master... are you... injured, anywhere?" All right wasn't even in the area of operations, but he could ask about if he was hurt. 

"No, Anakin," Obi-Wan said, and Kix knew it for a lie, but now was not the time to push it.

"Sirs, if we push him down, be conservative in your fight to start," Kix said. He could give this much help on the man. "He can throw the lightning, and he's more than capable of handling two lightsabers coming at him at once. If you can hold him in place, there will be more help as soon as others catch up.

"And he'd be far more valuable for what he knows alive," he finished.

Obi-Wan blinked at those knowing tones, then looked at Anakin, to see how his padawan reacted.

Anakin studied him for a long moment, then nodded his understanding. "All right. That makes sense." 

They didn't get the chance to force him down, though, as the speedercraft suddenly ducked towards an extended tongue of platform in a fissure of cliff. The lartie pilot followed, Kix couldn't remember his name, and Kix remembered another part of the story. "Land!" he barked, as full a command-voice as he could muster, "don't just let the Jedi off, block the exit, tight as you can!" 

Kriff if he'd let any of his brothers die if he could save them, and if the Geonosians turned the ship into rubble better it was in the Count's way. 

"Yes, sir!" the pilot called back, reacting to the authority in the tones, and the chatter on the vod'e comms that maybe this was an actual Alpha series.

The pair of Jedi moved impossibly fast and ahead of the others, but Kix did his best to stay up, arriving just as the pair engaged the former Jedi. He had his blaster in hand and went to fire as soon as he had line of sight… and an immense weight slammed into him, throwing him into a wall hard enough to daze.

Kriffing Sith, was his first coherent thought. But his brothers had followed him, and it sounded like the Geonosians hadn't blown the Lartie. That was a few more saved, and he breathed in, and out, looking towards the fight. 

His _jetiise_ were circling the old man, taut and wary, lightning crackling from Dooku's fingers but caught on their blades, and Kix's eyes fell on the ship. "While the _jetiise_ deal with him," he said to the _vod_ kneeling closest to him, "we find the engines. Slag them. Need the computers intact if we can." 

"Yes sir!" The vod'e focused on the ship and started eliminating it from use, distracting Dooku in his fight. With Anakin sharply aware of the consequences of losing this fight, and Obi-Wan still smarting from words that implied his own master would ever have joined Dooku, the fight intensified and kept Dooku from doing more than dropping a heavy pipe in the direction of the soldiers.

Kix nodded to himself, satisfied as they finished doing what they could to the ship and got out of it. He hated not being able to do more to help in the fight, but having their bolts deflected into either of his _jetiise_ was not even vaguely acceptable. He beckoned his brothers to take guard positions, and waited, praying, for the ancient Jedi, Master Yoda, to arrive. That was the story he knew, and he couldn't think what might have changed it. 

Anakin hissed in a breath as Dooku got a slash through to his Master's arm, restricting him to one-handed techniques and leaving him in pain, and Anakin tried to take over more of the fight. He pulled on the Force, trying to buoy his exhausted body, to live up to Obi-Wan's teasing and his own words, but Dooku was just. So fast. 

So fast -- and then his Master's saber sliced through Dooku's tunic, and without even looking, the old man flung him backwards with the Force like he'd done to Kix. Anakin had no time to think as Dooku focused on him. 

There was something burning in the old man's cold eyes as he attacked, and Anakin went for what he thought was a gap in his defenses -- and his right hand and wrist hit the ground as blinding, savage pain like nothing he'd ever felt took him. Frantically, he flung the Force at Dooku with all of his will, trying to shove him back and away far enough to be able to get to his blade again. 

Kix hissed in a breath and prepped the pressure cuff in his kit for use, but how to get close, how to reach his General… and then a the tapping of a stick on the stone was heard. Kix could breathe a little better, knowing that the tiny Jedi was coming.

Dooku knew the threat was there, recovering from the shove Anakin had managed, so he threw his own telekinetic might out, in the form of Force Lightning, knocking Anakin several meters away from him into a heap with Obi-Wan. Kix didn't even hesitate, running low and forward to the pair to aid them, knowing Master Yoda would take all of Dooku's attention.

Not for the first time, Anakin decided that shock really, really sucked. He couldn't calm his breathing, or the wild beat of his heart, and the pain had him wanting to throw up everything he'd eaten in the last month or so. Being half sprawled on his Master, though, had the advantage of telling him Obi-Wan was still breathing, at least. He lifted his head, looking for his borrowed saber, but he couldn't -- after that first desperate shove, he couldn't get a grip on it. 

Or maybe he just didn't want to see his own hand dragging on the ground. 

Then Kix was there, right at his side, kneeling and going for the stump of his arm... and he could hear Dooku fighting someone. Oh. Master Yoda. Good. "Hey, Kix," he said quietly, blinking up at him. 

"What's wrong with my Master?" 

Kix looked at the older Jedi. "Shock, exhaustion, malnutrition, multiple small point burns and incisions," he listed off. "Blunt force trauma from the impact with rock, most likely." If he let Skywalker worry about Kenobi, it made getting the aid taken care of quicker. "My brothers slagged the engines," he added. "Even if Master Yoda doesn't hold him, he's going to have a hard time escaping."

He got the cuff fitted, so it could preserve the cauterized flesh with bacta injections, and then signed for brothers to come forward and get the two Jedi fighters pulled further away from the impossible-to-follow lightsaber battle.

Anakin hissed at the feel of the cuff, but it.. something was soothing the worst of the pain, and... yeah, clearing the field was probably good. Kix's words cheered him up some, and he smiled as best he could. "Bet there's another way out, but... good. The harder he has to work, t - the better." 

Words were surprisingly hard to put together, right now. 

He turned, reaching for his Master with his left hand, needing to feel the life in him. So many had died, people he knew, had seen in the Temple all his life. Teachers, other students -- kriff, now he wanted to be sick again, worse. He turned his head to shove his right shoulder against his mouth, never letting go of his Master.

"Shh, sir. Shh." Kix spared a moment to run a hand over the Jedi's hair, trying to comfort him. "We've got you safe… and we'll keep you that way." He had to move on to dressing Obi-Wan's more minor injuries, which had the elder man slowly rousing. "Be still, sir," Kix said firmly. "None of these are dangerous, but I'd like to keep the muscles intact while I treat them."

"Anakin… oh, there you are," Obi-Wan said, realizing that he was being held on to.

"Right here," Anakin agreed, having followed that hand in his hair as much as he could. "Listen to Kix."

The constant singing of lightsabers was still in his ears, but Kix was still blocking his view. And then there was an entire chunk of masonry, a column maybe, coming at them, and he couldn't focus enough to stop it, though he'd let go of his Master to try. 

It stopped only a meter away, and Anakin heard running feet. But down into the mountain, not towards the ship. 

"Sir, do we pursue?" one of the men asked.

The masonry was set to the side, and there was a snort of effort. 

"Alone, you will not go," Yoda said. "Kenobi?"

"We are in good hands, Master. Go; he means this war to tear the Republic down, and the Order with it!"

"A small weight, carry can you, young one?" Yoda asked as he joined the rest of the squad… and then there was an explosion from the tunnels, blocking the way for pursuit. "Hmm, anticipated, that plan was."

"Slippery glitch," Kix growled.

Anakin hissed in frustration, though his head was still spinning, and let his hand drop back to his Master again, letting that solid contact reassure himself. And maybe his Master, too. "We've got his ship, though... unless he has _it_ rigged to detonate on command..." 

He cast a wary look backwards at the ship, narrow-eyed... then heard the sound of another shuttle, whatever this kind were called, and wondered. More Jedi? More of the men Kix called his brothers? 

"Spread out, and lock the area down," came the voice of his angel, reinforced by a 'yes si-- ma'am' and then feet running toward him.

"Points, if you'll direct the follow-up forces to look for other exits at lower levels?" Kix said steadily. "The Count escaped and blocked pursuit."

The CC series officer jerked to be called by his name, but gave a sharp nod and relayed that to the troops in the next shuttles, telling them to keep sharp eyes out. Points then did a head count and status check on his batch squad, before setting his men to explore possible ways down from this point.

Anakin started trying to get to his feet -- he didn't hurt so much any more, there must be painkillers in the cuff, and didn't want Padmé to see him flat on his back from pain and shock -- and Kix's hand landed on his left shoulder. 

"Stay put, sir," Kix ordered. "Don't make me use a sedative."

"I suggest you listen, Anakin. Mandalorian medics tend to be ruthless," Obi-Wan said idly.

Anakin glared up at Kix, but subsided, sighing. 

Padmé was beside him in the next moment, her hands delicately running over his face, down his left arm, even as she made a sharp, wordless sound of pain and protest, apparently at the sight of his wrist in the cuff. 

"It's not so bad," he told her, trying to stay vaguely calm, when what he really wanted was to hold her as tight as he possibly could, as long as he could. "You -- your back, did anyone -- ?" 

Padmé shook her head. "No time. Did you have to remind me, Ani? Now I feel it again." 

"Ma'am," Kix said, a little less sternly; he'd seen the cuts earlier and deemed them non-life threatening, but he did want to get them cleaned while Master Yoda and Points made a sweep. If there was a way to get at the Count from inside, they'd find it. If there was a way from outside, the following squadron would. He had injured to tend until they could evac.

"Yes, Kix?" Padmé asked, then sighed and turned so that he could get at her back. Her left hand caught hold of her top at her sternum, to keep it in place. "All right, go on." 

"Thank you, ma'am. Always knew you were a sensible one," and Kix managed to make it clear neither Jedi was, in his opinion. He began cleaning the mostly dried cuts, and getting bandages on them. "Going to finish off this kit too," he said with a sigh. "Never enough supplies."

"We'll get you more," Obi-Wan said, before he struggled to sit up fully. He looked over at the wrecked ship, and the men diligently prodding the walls to find any other passages. "What have we fallen into?" he said, almost too softly to be heard.

" _Haran_ , sir," Kix answered without a beat of hesitation.

"What, Kix?" Anakin asked, not familiar with the word, but curious -- if somewhat detached. Kriffing shock. 

"He said 'hell'," Obi-Wan told his padawan, and then nodded sagely. "A good word for it."

"We have an edge, though," Padmé said, looking at Kix. He shook his head some. 

"I hope so, but I don't know how much help I actually will be," he said, dropping his voice lower. "I just know I have to try." And damned if he wasn't putting Fives' symbol on his new armor once he got it, to remind himself.

Anakin went to reach for him with his right hand, made contact with Kix's arm with the stump at a painful velocity, and couldn't quite stifle the sharp whine, jerking back. "Not," he growled, when he could speak again, "my brightest move ever." 

Padmé shook her head, "No... not quite, Ani." 

"Kriffing storms, sir," Kix growled, before shifting to get a euphoric pushed into his general. He knew those tended to work better than narcotics, divorcing him from the emotional side of the injury and distancing him from the pain some more.

"You're absolutely not going to listen to me if I say I don't want whatever that is, are you?" Anakin asked -- though he'd only gotten about half of the sentence out before Kix had it in his system, so it ended in a resigned tone. 

"Sir, as all of you will learn, no one outranks a medic in the field or garrison when there are injured to care for."

Obi-Wan chuckled, and Kix reminded himself to have a long talk with Helix, as soon as he could.


	3. Recruiting Allies

Kix hadn't wanted to leave his _jetii_ 's side, but he **was** a medic, and he hadn't been able to stop himself from joining in working on the brothers brought in closest to where his pair of _jetiise_ had been parked in medical on one of the ships. He wasn't even sure which one. The Senator was there to watch them, which freed him somewhat. 

The way the other medics immediately heeded him was incredibly useful. 

He still wound up out of brothers to help not all that long after they entered hyperspace and returned himself to a spot outside his generals' -- his _jetiise_ 's -- berths. The Senator was sleeping in a chair nearby, and Kix half-closed his eyes to let himself rest. 

Not that he could, he found. His mind kept circling over what he was supposed to do now. How he was supposed to make the most difference. Some of the Jedi Sentinels had Dooku's ship, there might be useful things in that. 

But he had to save his brothers from the chips, from the Sith, as soon as he could. He had to save his General from whatever had been done to him to make that monster he'd seen too much intel about -- because like _haran_ his General would have Fallen on his own. That the Emperor-then was the Chancellor he'd served as the face of the Republic, that was something he had to trust to **someone** on the Council... but who? 

General Kenobi wasn't, yet, on the Council, and he was the only one Kix trusted absolutely, the only one he was absolutely sure could not be somehow under the Sith's sway, after what had happened to his Commander. 

Also his High General was completely out of his mind right now, wallowing in deep swells of all the terrible things that had happened, or Kix would eat one of those kriffing robes. 

The door to this med bay opened, and Master Plo Koon entered, looking all around as if seeking something. The man was in his robes, but the set of his tusks told Kix that the Jedi was agitated.

Kix rolled to his feet instantly, respect for the General that Wolffe loved so ferociously driving him despite the wary turn of his thoughts, coming smoothly to attention despite the shoulder-itching lack of his armor, eyes focused on the General.

"At ease, is it not, the words for when a soldier should relax vigilance?" Plo focused on him intently. "You are not like the others, young man. And full of heavy thoughts this day, ones not quite as the others are thinking." He walked over and inclined his head slightly. "I am Master Plo Koon, if I may have the privilege of your name?"

"Medic Kix, sir," Kix answered, as he relaxed down out of attention to at ease. "And yes, sir. Or 'as you were', if you want people to go back to whatever work or rest was going on. You're right, in what you say, but that requires privacy to talk about, sir. For all my brothers' sake." 

Was he doing right, trusting General Buir, especially before he _was_ General Buir? 

"Come then. There is a small prep room we may use, just outside this bay." Plo extended a hand to the door, fully intending that Kix should walk at his side. 

"Good eyes, sir," Kix said, falling in a pace behind General Buir. Not a customary place for him, with any _jetii_ , and he ached with the spot Wolffe wasn't, moving easily enough despite that ache -- except the Jedi's tusks twitched, not a happy gesture, and motioned to his side. Kix took a breath, and made himself match stride. 

Plo guided him to the prep room -- stripped of most useful supplies by the casualties they had handled, and yet Kix had been relieved to learn the numbers for vod'e and Jedi alike were lower than he remembered. He wasn't certain why, unless the chaos surrounding his successful shot to take out Gunray had disheartened some Seppies from fighting.

"There. Please sit." Plo took a wall and slid down to sit with his back to it, leaving the counter free to Kix. "And talk to me. Help me understand the turmoil radiating from you."

Kix let himself slide down the opposite wall, and sighed heavily, looking across at Wolffe's General. "Other than my own _jetiise_ and the Senator, I don't -- I can't be sure... who to trust, sir. 

"I want to trust you, and I have to trust someone... it's just so hard to know, after some of _what_ I know." 

"Ahh." Plo Koon nodded. "So you do have knowledge of the possible future," he added, not looking terribly surprised, if Kix was reading his posture correctly. "There is a young Initiate in the Temple who may have been connecting with your vision of that future, Medic Kix. While I hesitate to say that she should be involved at this point, perhaps a conversation with her would help you decide who best to trust from this point in what we must live?"

An initiate, that was the rank below padawan, and -- 

Seeing. Only one that could be. " _Ahsoka_." 

His Commander, their _vod'ika_ , his general's padawan. 

Now Plo did look surprised. The tusks flared and his posture was more alert. "Yes," he confirmed. "She has been most concerned for a very long time, but the vision she had while Kenobi was on Kamino has been the most unique… and I think it originated from you and your visions."

Kix laughed, despite himself, shaking his head. "I'm not a Seer, not like you _jetiise_. I -- oh, _storms_ , no, she... she didn't See what I know, did she? Not all of it? It'd break that great heart of hers, if -- " 

Plo felt that intense concern and it helped him relax to the idea this stranger knew his foundling's name. "Not a Seer. And yet, you say you know the future.

"As to Ahsoka and what she saw? There were scenes of planets she'd never visited. I have placed a few of them, but I agree with her; the tone of this one was unlike any that were confined to Kamino."

"Just scenes," Kix murmured, relaxing a little, breathing easier. "Probably battles, campaigns... but... just moments. That's not so bad. She can handle that. Okay. Good. Talking to her would help, one way... but then again, I think she trusts you most. 

"Would never believe you'd turn your back on her, when she'd done _nothing_ wrong. But you did." He shook his head slightly. "Will, I guess, now." 

Plo froze in place, and the respiration mask went silent long enough to make it beep slightly at him to breathe.

"I find that near impossible to believe," he told Kix. "She is a very promising young Jedi, and if she came under suspicion, I would see her through it!" he avowed. 

Kix hummed thoughtfully, studying him. "So I'd have thought. So she'd believe, and tell me. But you didn't. Won't. Whatever. And if you could do that to the girl you raised, Master Ti could do that to her hunt-daughter... 

"What're we clones, in comparison?" 

Plo leaned forward, intent on every word, feeling the nuances. There was pain there, conflict, and he had to accept that, in some future swirl of time that this man knew, he, and Shaak, had abandoned the child they both cared for to a cruel fate.

"I can tell you that here and now, that child is like a daughter to me. That Shaak is still gladly telling anyone who will listen to the tale of both akul hunts. To judge me by a future which is in motion is your right.

"However, I would prefer to be aided in seeing the ways either of us could have come to such a point." Plo then took a longer breath. "As to all of these men that we are now responsible for, and hope to see safely through this conflict, we are Jedi. Our duty is, firstmost, to serve the Force and protect those that need it, by circumstance or inability to protect themselves."

Kix breathed out a slow, deep sigh, and smiled at General Buir. "I... believe you, sir. All right. Have to trust someone past my own Generals -- and you normally had sense, when you were away from Coruscant. Maybe it's that planet that makes you all so stupid in a group. Or being too close to that damned Sith so often. 

"Maybe away from him, you have your brain in your head and not your _shebs_." 

The Jedi let that sink in fully. "You know who the other Sith is." He could ignore all else. That was the critical part. There were always two. The warrior on Naboo might have been Dooku's student, but based on the dissection of his style, Plo dismissed that idea. Qui-Gon would have been prepared for anyone trained by his own master.

"Yes, sir," Kix replied, biting at his lip as he tried to decide. Now he thought he could trust the Kel Dor, that honest love for Ahsoka had been soothing, the way he was disturbed by the idea of failing her steadying. "I do. I just don't know if you'll believe me. It's still fairly unbelievable to me, even."

Plo Koon watched him for a moment, before reaching out. ~Medic Kix?~ He asked it softly against the public mind, making an offer of untraceable communication, where there could be no lies. ~Would this be better?~

Kix jumped a little at the unfamiliar touch, and memory of Wolffe saying his _buir_ 's mental voice felt like being by a warm fire on a cold night, like the secure grasp of hands on forearms, flickered across his mind before he could stop it. ~Oh! Hello, sir. This... might be good, yes. To do it this way, I mean.~

That memory settled to the side for Plo. There was something intimate there, a deep connection that had been observed. While Plo could not avoid interacting with the men, he would not have suspected himself capable of being strong enough to make a lasting bond to any of them.

Their lives would be so fragile, until the Sith were gone. And Plo had already seen so much loss.

~The Sith is on Coruscant, by your words. Or was and can be? And he has had access to me?~

~Yes, sir,~ Kix answered. ~When they woke me out of cryo, I had to know what had happened to my brothers. I researched, everything I could in the wreck of the records. And it... all made so much sense. The Sith in charge of things -- he's the Chancellor, sir.~ He felt the General's shock, but he bulled on desperately. 

~And this whole karking war is just his means of destroying all the _jetiise_ , and the Jedi -- and making things so bad the people will accept him as Emperor if it just means peace. I don't care about the Republic, but I _won't_ let him hurt my _jetiise_.~ 

That was a lot, and Plo wanted to deny the possibility; he'd stayed close to Coruscant during all of Lissarkh's training and since because he served as the direct advisor from the Temple to the man.

Yet, the whole reason for the mind touch was because of how hard it was to lie in the thoughts. Those records Kix mentioned had touched Plo's senses, through the casual memory. 

~Your thoughts are strong for Kenobi and Skywalker.~ That was a good place to start. ~With what you are saying, confiding in them is not advisable at this point, and we have left the younger of the pair at severe risk.

~As to the plan the Sith has? I suppose we shall just have to endeavor to, hmm, what is it, spike them?~

Kix chuckled at the last words. ~ _Yes_ , sir,~ he agreed wholeheartedly. ~We do have to do that. And you sure did, sir. 

~So many missions, the bad ones, came direct from the Chancellor... made to push my General, hurt him worse. Can see that, now. As to strong thoughts... they're my _jetiise_.~ 

He tried to let General Buir feel what that meant, the bond between _vod_ and _jetii_ , the mix of faith and hope and devotion and ferocious loyalty that the Jedi earned and returned in the worst of combat with their actions, earned again in the medic tents pouring themselves into the men who knew they were born to die for a Republic that despised and feared them, saying ' **no** , you're more than that' in action over and over again. 

That gave Plo more to consider, and even though he would not have wished to love men who would die so easily, he was well aware of his tendency to collect people. More, what he was feeling in that was a very giving and receptive sympatico.

~I am uncertain I will approve of those who do not earn the distinction, even as I can guess some of whom will earn it, I think.~ He then inclined his head. ~Guard your knowledge carefully, Medic Kix. I shall have to discover who I may best trust, and search out an adequate solution.

~If only we had caught that,~ and the concept was profane, but in an alien language, ~traitor, Master Tiin and I might have been able to push him to reveal his allies.~

Kix chuckled, approving of General Buir's opinions on Dooku. ~Wish we could have, sir. Already changed some things, killing Gunray the way I did, but we're all better off with that filth dead. 

~One Sith plan we have to kriff fast, though, is the control chips in all my brothers, sir. Those have to go as fast as the healers can figure out some way to do it.~ 

~Control chips?~ The two words were uttered with icy rage for the concept that flavored them from Kix. ~They crafted an entire people to suffer a war, and then added more degradation and blasphemy against the sense of self to it?!~

Kix almost purred at the fury pouring from the General. It was cold as that kriffing moon, but oh, it was sweet. It was absolutely wonderful, glorious and heady, and so much proof of why Wolffe loved him so much. ~Yes, sir,~ he answered. ~Not sure what all is on the kriffing things... what I do know is bad enough. Because those -- those things -- they made -- theymademybrotherskilltheir _jetii_.~

That physically, and psychically, staggered the Jedi sitting across from him. The mottling of the skin was suddenly more visible and the tusks had clenched tight, almost straining the protective gear around them.

~I -- see.~ There was rage and horror and a deep revulsion. ~The damage that would have caused to any of them that came back to themselves,~ he added with an aching empathy for the men.

~Careful, sir,~ Kix yelped, worried about Wolffe's General hurting himself, even as his chest ached with his own new, savage love for the Kel Dor _jetii_. That... that proved everything Wolffe had ever said about his General, ~your mask! Can't have you getting burned on my watch.

~And... you're not wrong, sir. I don't know what happened to any of my brothers after -- well. After it was done on purpose. Tup was a wreck, when his got set off by trauma. They took him away, fast. But. It... can't have been good.~

~I refuse to see it happen.~ Plo took several breaths, and then reached out to Saesee. ~My friend, when you are in a private area and able to handle trauma, please contact me.~ He let Kix hear that, but not the response. ~I will share all you told me with him. I trust him explicitly and he is going to be our second point of knowledge holding, in order to make certain this does not die with one or both of us.~

~Good planning, sir,~ Kix agreed, nodding firmly. ~And my General likes him, too. Rare as that is, I take it seriously when he does. But you're not allowed to die yet, sir.~

~It will come when it will,~ came the reply to that, flavored by something Kix had seen among so many brothers -- the burden of surviving.

~That's the truth, sir,~ Kix agreed quietly, ~but you're still needed. By a lot of people. Even if you haven't met some of them yet.~ The last was said with a quiet, wry chuckle. 

~I believe, Medic Kix, I am looking forward to these meetings.~

+++

It was decided that Padawan Skywalker had to fulfill the Jedi mission of protecting the Senator of Naboo, and avail himself of her offer of Naboo's premier medical facilities for the prosthetic he needed. 

Kix didn't want to separate from him, but he did need to get the chip research under way. He was, point blank, terrified that the easiest way to deal with him would be to activate his if the Sith discovered him. He had never been able to verify if the shock treatment he had applied to his skull had destroyed it, after all.

It would let him keep a closer eye on Kenobi, who actually, under it all, seemed more at risk to the traumatic syndrome pressing in around all of the Jedi for the loss of their friends. It was also likely true that Skywalker, nor the Senator, really wanted that close an eye on them right now anyway.

So he attached himself to the party that included both General Buir and his elder _jetii_ , after having acquired a set of (disgustingly shiny) Phase One armor to disguise his bit of extra age and the knowing in his eyes. He refused not to have his medic patches, though. That was who he was, medic to his brothers, even if his younger self was going to be Torrent's medic. Just another _vod_ attending the Jedi should go unnoticed enough for his purposes. 

He'd had a few words with the senior officers, to silence the rumors about an Alpha having been on Geonosis as best they could. With the mention that it could be dangerous to the Jedi, they'd get a lid on it. 

Coruscant looked weird, he thought, and then he realized that the garrisons weren't built yet. 

Being a part of the party including one member of the Council meant Kix was taken directly to the Temple with the pair of Jedi and those brothers that had latched on as a personal guard. It was perhaps the most sinister part of the Sith plan, Kix realized, as he watched how strongly so many of the first wave brothers imprinted on and attached to the Jedi.

"Obi-Wan," Plo said quietly as the shuttle was settling. "Your presence is requested at the Council meeting. Medic Kix, yours as well."

"Of course, sir," Kix answered instantly, having stiffened to attention for a moment. He wondered what General Buir was planning, but had faith enough that he'd find out soon. He just hoped it helped him actually try to help his elder _jetii_. 

"Yes, Master," Obi-Wan agreed quietly. 

The Council assembled, none of them looking all that well, but only one chair was empty. Just behind them, Kit Fisto came in and then the door was sealed. Kix thought Fisto looked very surprised to be present, but also weary, as the tentacles were very subdued.

"Masters," Obi-Wan said once Windu's eyes fixed on those of them in the center, given that Plo had taken his seat.

"Kenobi. Fisto…. Medic Kix, we are told," Master Windu said. "Both Masters Tiin and Koon have approved your presence in this chamber, and have advocated for us to have an advisory position for the men we are being asked to take under our auspices."

Despite the words, Kix knew the Jedi had less been 'asked' and more that they had known that to say 'no' was to sign their own death warrant as a Republic-supported organization. He snapped to attention, saluting the Master of the Order, and held it for a count of five before he subsided, the way they'd learned to do with Jedi early in the war. "I'll do my best in that for you, sirs," he answered.

Windu nodded, and then focused on Fisto. "Master Fisto, while we are very grateful for all of the work you have put in the Council of Reconciliation since Master Ti joined us, I believe the Order must insist that you select a replacement, and also join us here. We will need the connections and skills you bring as we navigate the treacherous waters ahead."

There were not a few wan smiles for Windu making the analogy quite like that, and it showed Kix that perhaps the war had degraded Windu drastically as well, that he could find lighter words in this time.

That was something to think about later, he told himself, and shifted his weight into at-ease, watching as Fisto swallowed hard, bowing his head. 

"If that is the will of the Council, then I will do so. I must say I am not certain I am prepared for such a position, especially in such circumstances, however." 

"Hm... better this you think, than that prepared you are," Yoda said, "but too harsh on yourself, you are. As always. Faith in you, we have. Sit." 

"A chair will be procured for you, Medic Kix," Plo said easily once Kit had taken his seat. "As with all of this, we were not fully prepared."

Kix gave a curt nod and wondered how in _haran_ he was going to train himself to **sit** in the High Council's presence.

"Kenobi," Ki-Adi Mundi began next. "Will you please relate to us the full extent of your mission to find the bounty hunter, and the revelations that ensued, so that we all may hear the background of where we now find ourselves?"

Obi-Wan took a deep breath, then fell into the recital mode that had succored him through many other difficult mission briefs. He did glance first at Kix, and then to Plo, who must have silently assured him that he could be open. 

He detailed the greeting he had received on Kamino, his interviews with the Kaminoans, his conversation with Jango, and then the fight that had eventually led to Geonosis. 

Kix had known of the coming of the Jedi as a shiny. Now? Hearing it spelled out from his _jetii_ 's perception was quite a bit different, as it was confirmed to him that no, the Order really had not had anything to do with launching the project, only a rogue Master who might have been under influence of the Sith.

That was almost a relief to learn. It meant the Sith had not co-opted a legitimate project… and the Jedi really hadn't wanted to make a slave army.

It surprised him, a little, how comforting that was. He was faintly impressed at the way his _jetii_ had managed to evade the Fett, and slip in below. He was much less impressed by the flat, almost affectless way his _jetii_ was describing things 

The description of his 'discussion' with Dooku, though, after his capture, had Kix nearly seeing red. He took deep, slow breaths, watching his _jetii_ and restraining himself from going to him with an effort. He was grateful he was the one here, not Cody, because Cod'ika would have said kark it and gone fifteen minutes ago. 

He shifted his weight warily as one of the Jedi he didn't know -- a tall, heavily bearded being whose his lower body seemed to be mostly a snakelike tail -- shook their head at the mention of a Sith in the Republic and said something dismissive in a masculine voice. He looked worriedly at General Buir, remembering a moment too late that he still had his bucket on, and General Buir wouldn't yet know how to read the body-language shift. 

"Actually," and it was Master Tiin who interjected, "we know there is one. Highly placed and able to influence events as easily as implied by how far into this debacle we already are."

"And, while we know who," Plo said, launching his support, "it is a matter best kept closely held, Master Rancisis, to a handful of individuals until one aspect of the Sith countermeasures has been nullified."

"How can the Sentinels be of service, then, Master Koon?" Master Mundi asked immediately. "Or….?"

"I will endeavor to fill you in as soon as I may, but I am adamant that it stay small for now."

"And I concur," Master Tiin said.

Kix, watching, saw concern and distress in the members of the Council, but no anger -- and, as importantly for his peace of mind, nothing that showed any of them had had any prior idea. As for his own _jetii_ , Obi-Wan looked absolutely stricken. That was better than the blankness, but not exactly good, either. 

"Masters?" Obi-Wan said uncertainly. "You... are certain he was telling the truth, in that? But why would he? Even thinking I was going to die, why take the risk of one of you reaching me mentally before I did?" 

Yoda, oddly enough to Kix's way of thinking, was the one to reply… until he recalled the bits of words thrown in the fight on Geonosis. 'Student of mine', 'my old teacher'... and it slid a few more pieces of the tragedy in place.

"Hmm, a gamble, I think. For a human, old is the Count. Prideful, always he was. To be apprentice, no longer the master, chafe the pride, it must," Yoda explained. "Dismiss as a lie, we would, were it but from him. If listen we did, though, free him of the master we might."

Kix had to nod at that assessment -- it made sense. And then he thought of another possibility. "Maybe, also, to set you hunting someone that's stayed hidden this long? Spending time and resources that could otherwise be used countering the Separatists, sirs. Could be lots of reasons." 

"Astute, our advisor is," Master Yoda praised him. "Tactician, my padawan was. Masterful at it." His ears flattened. "Countering this, difficult it will be. Those once most able, within the Force they now are. Rise to this, we must."

General Buir's tusks clenched, Master Fisto's tentacles all went rigid, and his own _jetii_ matched with a hiss of breath indrawn.

"We will all do our best," Mundi promised, but even he had the look of someone haunted by a tragic idea.

Kix looked from each _jetii_ to the next, wondering what he didn't know, what part of the history here, and tragedy, he'd never been close enough to learn. What was it that nearly half the Council had just realized, and hurt from, and how did he make Dooku hurt for it in return? 

Windu, who had let the meeting ride with only a few questions for Kenobi, now nodded and leaned forward, drawing all eyes. "Masters Koon and Tiin, you will coordinate the plans for nullification of the trap you mentioned. Master Mundi and Ti, we need more details on all of the maneuverings that led us here. The rest of you? Start allocating the portions of the Order that fall in your purview to meet the demands of the Senate for leadership to the men.

"We cannot let more of them be victim in this than can't be helped, and that means acceding to the call to arms as their officer staff." He looked around to all of them to see if there were further concerns, including Kix in that sweep.

Kix considered for a moment, then decided he had to speak up, for his brothers' sake. "We know we're unused to the world off Kamino, sir, but a full hundred of the best bounty hunters and fighters credits could buy spent years designing the training software we were immersed in even when we were still in bottles. 

"You Jedi will know way more about the political situations on each world, and how to leverage that -- but we know mass combat, sirs. Listen to our officers, for the love of the waves." 

Ki-Adi Mundi looked as if a live wire had touched his seat, from as sharp as he sat up. Even Piell looked solidly at Kix and then nodded once.

"Our new colleague has a fine point," the small man said. "As numerous as the conflicts have been this last century or so, they have been confined to a handful of systems. And mostly dealt with space battles, or rare individual engagements on planet.

"We must learn, and adapt, from the young men, even as we lend our strengths to them."

Kix dipped his head, now glad he still had his bucket on to hide the flush crawling up his features. Praise from a Jedi not his was still a heady thing. "Thank you, sir. Ge -- Master Mundi? What is it, sir?" 

Mundi sighed, then looked at him with something mixing chagrin and regret on his features. "We lost track of so many open files, and now you tell me they were on a planet we could not find and had never heard of… training those who will, with the Force's aid, be the Republic's salvation?"

Kix chuckled for a moment, rather despite himself, and nodded crisply. "Most likely, sir. Some of them came and went -- bored, or taking other work -- but most just stayed, for secrecy's sake." 

"Ask Medic Kix about your files later, Ki-Adi," General Windu said, but it wasn't unkind. "Obi-Wan, I believe we interrupted you somewhat. Is there further important information from your captivity?" 

"I believe that is all," Obi-Wan said. 

"Of matters, with you, we are not done," Yoda said, coming out of his chair and hobbling with his stick to the center of the room and looking up at his great grand-padawan. "One Sith, unheard of. To survive two, impressive, it is. Unanimous, the Council is, to elevate your rank from Knight to Master, hmm."

Kix grinned savagely behind his bucket, even as his High General made a noise really best expressed by a squeak -- no, really, a squeak -- of shock, red coming up on his pale cheeks. He'd never seen General Kenobi look like that, or sound anything like that, either. He hadn't, entirely, known he could. 

"I -- but, Masters, Anakin's still a -- and I'm not -- " 

"Hmm, waiting, always my line is. Ready, you are." Yoda looked back over his shoulder at Windu then.

"Kenobi, your padawan survived his encounter with a Sith warrior. There are few masters in this Order who can meet Count Dooku in combat and perform as he did from the testimony of the men present at that encounter," Windu said. "While there is a need for further refinement, we believe that refinement will come with time… as a Jedi Knight."

"If," the bearded, snake-bodied one they'd called Rancisis said, "he passes the standard Trials, yes, Master Windu?" 

Windu met Rancisis's eyes evenly across the chamber. "Actually, Master, Skywalker has the support of two separate members of the Council stating that he should forego the Trials due to recent events surrounding him. Master Yoda and I have agreed to allow him his Knighthood, pending no disruptions between now and the end of his mission, without the Trials."

Obi-Wan looked even more stunned by that than his own promotion, too stunned to protest even. Kix was betting it had been the two telepaths.

"Most unusual," Rancisis muttered, not sounding at all pleased, but he bowed his head -- not agreeing, but accepting, Kix thought. His bucket picked up a faint, 'well, Skywalker,' but he didn't recognize the bare murmur of voice. Kix was pretty sure this wasn't at all how things had gone in his first trip through, and didn't know if the change was good or bad... but proper recognition for his _jetii_ suited him just fine. 

It did not take long from there for the meeting to break up, with Fisto quickly corralling both Plo and Shaak Ti on their way out, and Obi-Wan slowly moving to leave, still confused by the sudden changes and trying to shake it off.

Kix moved to his _jetii_ 's side, but stayed out of his space, cautious of spooking his traumatized General, but he didn't seem to really notice him. "Sir?" 

Obi-Wan started slightly, then looked at Kix directly. "Ahh, yes. Kix." He frowned, and seemed to energize then. "I should find permanent quarters for you."

"I was going to ask if you would, sir," Kix agreed, nodding. "Maybe show me a bit of the Temple on the way, if you wouldn't mind? New to me, and it seems like a lot of space to get lost in." 

"Right. I suppose it would be a bit overwhelming… one good bit is that there's an entire spire, or tower, off limits due to a speeder crashing into it some time ago," Obi-Wan said, using dry humor to seem more himself. "Let's go find clothing and then quarters before we tour."

"As you say, sir," Kix agreed, and followed him willingly. Once they were into the maze of the Temple, he reached up, pulled off his bucket, and tucked between arm and hip without ever breaking stride. 

Obi-Wan did not flinch. He was a Knight -- Master -- in the Order and he had control over his emotions. That did not mean that he didn't react inwardly and he knew he needed to bring it under control. He wasn't a naive sixteen year old boy with a Master still healing from heartache and loss, escorting the most infuriatingly intoxicating woman through death traps and assassination attempts.

Mandalore was a long gone piece of his past, and these men were very much a piece of his future. No matter how easily the mannerisms and accent dragged Obi-Wan's mind back.

"Sir?" Kix asked softly, concerned, even as he looked around the Temple, intrigued by this place that his _jetiise_ had grown up in. "What's wrong?" 

"Nothing, Kix," Obi-Wan said with long familiar habit. "There are memories to be let go of," he added at the skeptical look and noise. "Your accent is common to many who opposed the rise of House Kryze, and the practice you show with the armor, which is very inspired by traditional _beskar'gam_ , adds a layer to the resemblance. That was… an uncomfortable year, for keeping my head attached to my neck."

Kix nodded at that, settling as his _jetii_ talked about it at least a little. Maybe he could help with that, so Cody wouldn't have so much to struggle through. "That makes sense, sir. I'd apologize, but we can't do much about our face, and sounding like the longnecks... didn't suit us. You're safe with us, though." 

Even Slick, the karking traitor (though it wasn't as though he was _wrong_ , entirely), would never have tried a physical attack on a Jedi. 

"Oh, I am aware," Obi-Wan said. "It's just been a very bad… week, I suppose." He gave a wan smile at the man with him. "You are, in all actuality, the embodiment of hope, given your guidance so far.

"I wish this war ended quickly, so that the suffering is curtailed… and hopefully it will lance the wounds the Republic has had festering for some time."

Kix smiled back at him, relieved to see it even if that wasn't much of a smile -- there were so many reasons for him not to, after all -- and nodded. "Glad you know it... and glad we can be that for you, too. Just want you to be all right, sir." 

He was fairly sure they were anything _but_ a lance for the Republic's festering wounds, but he wasn't about to say that to his _jetii_ , not right now. Once the chips were dealt with, and the Sith dealt with, then, maybe, they could see to the worse abscessed wounds. "And if I do say so myself, sir, I listen well, with a medic's confidentiality." 

Obi-Wan made a gently scoffing noise. "You have far greater things to deal with, Kix. I haven't seen Master Koon this energized to tackle a problem in over a decade, and he will be calling on you a lot, I feel." The sadness of the Council room came back, the one that had been shared, in his eyes.

Kix snorted in response to that noise and the words, shaking his head a little. "Like as not, he will," he agreed, "but I have my own opinions on who and what's important, when he doesn't actively need me."

Obi-Wan nodded absently to that, before focusing on where they were. "Ahh, Stores. We should have clothing that will fit you. We don't always have the luxury of robes and tunics when we undertake missions."

"No, I can see where you wouldn't," Kix agreed, looking in with a faintly overwhelmed eye. The crew that had found him had kitted him out of spare bits of all of their things that could be made to fit at first, then found him better stuff on an Outer Rim world, but... he'd lived his whole life in regulation clothes or armor. "...whatever you think would be best, sir." 

"Hmm. Master Koon is often in Senatorial Chambers, so something formal… just in case. Two sets of working clothes…" Obi-Wan kept muttering pieces as he moved through and selected items, before moving to personal kits of toiletries, and then shoes which actually necessitated Kix trying them on.

It seemed to have a soothing effect on Obi-Wan, as he gathered all the items. signed them out to Kix as a 'Jedi Advisor' and then led them in search of quarters. Settling Kix in was a good thing, and it was keeping his mind off his padawan.


	4. Moving Ahead

Kix was still getting used to the flow of life in the Temple, complicated by the massive recall of Knights to be assigned to the GAR. He recalled that many Masters weren't sent into the field right away, with even General Buir and General Ti being held back from assignments and only going to support various units as needed until nearly halfway through the first year.

They were warned about Grievous, at least. Maybe that tin-plated pain in the _shebs_ wouldn't have so many lightsabers in his collection.

He was making an effort to take meals in the different cafeterias, so he could better observe the Jedi, to tailor his data for General Buir in a way that made sense psychologically to the closed-off society. So it was that he entered one… and all but came to a standstill in the entryway.

Standing a few centimeters shorter, with akul-teeth so new they were shiny from being polished, and montral buds that were not much larger than the youngling he'd seen two days before had, was his Commander Vod'ika.

For her part, she broke off talking … that was Knight Swan and another Initiate that Kix didn't know, he thought … and turned to fully see him, her eyes going impossibly wide.

Kix dipped his head to her, swallowing at how kriffing little she was, how shiny, and moved just enough to be sure he had cleared the door for anyone that might come up behind him. She was so **little** , and those eyes made him want to snatch her up and find somewhere safe to tuck her away so that she wouldn't have to see the things that had hurt her -- but he knew he couldn't. Knew how badly needed she was for his General, for his brothers. 

He just wanted to. 

Knight Swan had cut off and was now watching them, her body language protective but encouraging. After another moment of just looking at Kix, Ahsoka made her feet work and moved toward him.

"Hi," she said shyly, none of the brash over-confidence he'd been told she landed on Christophsis with, that he'd seen a few times before it was just confidence and skill to back it up.

"Hi, yourself, Ahsoka," he replied, offering one hand to her, smiling. "It's good to see you for real. How are you?" 

She pouted a little and took his hand, and he could tell it was for the fact she wasn't tall enough yet to properly greet him like she'd seen in her visions. 

"Hungry," she said, flashing sharp canines at him in a playful smile. "You're the different one. I don't understand. But I'm glad to meet one you for real at last."

She wasn't guarding the fact she'd seen them all her life from him… when it had taken almost two months to learn it from his Commander, and that by accident when she wound up spewing Togruti at a recalcitrant engine part.

"I'm hungry, too. Care to explain this particular setup to me?" he invited, cocking his head towards the buffet of foodstuffs. So strange, compared to the rations he was used to. "Bet you can identify stuff even if you can't have it yourself. Or maybe especially if?" 

She wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, I can name all the plants and funguses and biotics. Some of those, I can eat. But too many of them grew up thinking they were going to be veggies," she said, guiding him over and being her very helpful self. She took advantage of showing him through the choices to make a second, smaller plate of proteins to carry back to where she had been. "You'll come back to my table with me, right?

"And, sorry, but you boys -- okay you are very much not a boy, but -- didn't use names out loud when I could hear. May I know yours?"

"Sure will," Kix agreed, and then would have thumped himself in the head if he could. "Sorry, of course you can. It's Kix. Not that I'm the only one with that name around, but I'm the one here." 

"Kix." She grinned again. "I like it." Her face shifted rapidly, a look of confusion coming up as a half-memory hit her and her eyes darted up to his hairline. 

His mouth quirked at the corner, and he said affectionately, "Don't worry about it. Or ask General Koon." 

He'd been growing out his hair to hide the distinctive tattoos, and now he was glad of it. "And thank you. Sort of fond, myself. But then, most of us are -- unless our brothers named us, rather than picking it ourselves." 

"Oh." She carried her small plate of proteins and guided him to the table. "Kix, Meet Bultar Swan and… where'd T'ahre go?"

"Extra lessons in kinesis," Bultar said. "You're working with my Master," she added.

"I told them I could help," Ahsoka sulked, before taking a quick bite of food.

Kix settled himself, and inclined his head to Knight Swan. So this was Thrust's _jetii_. He'd seen her on the sands, and there was a sadness in her eyes that reflected that. "Hello, sir. Pleasure to meet you. And yes, I am. Anything in particular I should know about making sure he takes care of himself? Also, where could I locate an emergency mask and goggles for him, in case something were to happen to his own?"

Both Bultar and Ahsoka looked at him with surprise and then joy on their faces. "Oh I like you," Bultar said. "I can get you a set after meal. As to taking care of himself, he should not go more than a standard day relying solely on his respirator, and he should sleep at least four hours in a standard day as well. 

"Mind if I give you a case of the soups he can safely drink through his mask? In case you are out of Temple with him? He's notorious for powering through Senate meetings without drinking one."

The appreciation from General Swan made him smile for a moment. "I don't mind at all," Kix answered, and nodded firmly. "And being able to carry food for him sounds wise, too. Thank you, sir." 

He filed away the instructions about the respirator and the need of sleep away in the back corner of his mind. Reasonable enough, and should be manageable except in the worst circumstances. 

"If he gets really cranky about the sleep thing, find me!" Ahsoka said with a mischievous smile. "I can make it happen! Can't I, Bultar?"

The Knight laughed, nodding at that. "Ahsoka, you get your way with him as much as Lissarkh does."

Kix laughed in amusement, shaking his head. "I have no doubt of that," he agreed, casting an affectionate look at his Commander. "And I will keep it in mind, if I need the reinforcement." 

For a bit, he settled to his food, getting around it with swift economy of motion -- even though he was familiar with almost none of it. He watched Ahsoka clean her first plate, the second plate, and snitch two pieces of meat off Bultar's plate with the Force, a theft the Knight pretended not to notice. Given his memory of her being a little taller, with more development in lekku and montrals both from his first meeting, he would not be surprised if she weren't on the verge of the first of her adolescent growth spurts, given the appetite.

Then again, high-protein biologies were at a disadvantage for storing energy for later too. He'd have to keep an eye on her, long as she was in the Temple still, to be sure she took care of herself. That, at least, he knew how to do. 

And he'd make up a data wafer for his shiny self for when she went to the _Resolute_ , to head off those weeks of her half starving herself, too. Or should he? It had helped make his General and Commander closer, when he found out -- nope. Her health came first. They'd make it work between them for themselves. 

"Did anyone show you where the exercise rooms are?" Ahsoka suddenly asked. "And there actually is a blaster range… it's a few levels down and not very well used, but sometimes Jedi have to be able to shoot things."

Bultar wrinkled her nose at that; she was in Kenobi's camp on the subject of blasters.

"I saw a couple, but I haven't seen that much of the Temple yet," Kix answered, "and I definitely haven't seen the blaster range. I'd be glad to -- have to keep in practice." 

"I don't have anywhere I need to be for a couple of hours. I could show you around a little?" Ahsoka offered.

"I thought you didn't have any classes this evening?" Bultar asked.

"Don't," Ahsoka told her. "But Master Drallig is supposed to be showing an advanced technique tonight in the big salle, and I don't want to miss it."

Kix didn't even try to hide his smile at that -- that was so much his Commander it almost made him laugh, but he only said, "I'd appreciate that, thank you." 

"Good. You get to keep her out of trouble for the next few hours," Bultar said, a teasing tone in her voice.

"Bul~tar," Ahsoka whined before grinning. "How do you know we won't help me find something interesting?"

"Please don't," was the immediate plea to Kix.

"Can't swear I won't, sir," Kix answered, "but I'll do my best not to."

"Then good luck," Bultar said, gathering up all their dirty dishes to turn in, and leaving him with his not-quite Commander for their tour.

+++

Kix was relieved when General Buir commed to ask him to accompany him to the Halls of Healing -- business in the Senate and the outbreak of invasions had kept him and the Council busy for the first couple of days. It had at least let him meet Ahsoka, and some of the others, but his _jetii_ was being stubborn about putting a brave face on everything and that was frustrating. 

Going to the Halls meant work on the karking chips, and Kix wasn't a bit ashamed to admit how relieved he was about that. He strode along beside General Buir, and finally they reached the Halls. 

"Ahh, Knight Nimpur… yes, Master Che is expecting us," Plo said with a chuckle at the, even to Kix's perceptions, protective attention from the Devaronian Knight. Kix vaguely remembered Ahsoka speaking of a Knight Nimpur with non-typical gender presentation and surmised this must be the woman.

"Very well, Master. She is in the back wardroom," Nimpur told them. Plo nodded to her, and then guided Kix back to where the Twi'leki healer that neither of his _jetiise_ had ever wanted him to meet was setting up scanners and testing equipment.

"Hello, Plo. And Medic Kix. It is both a pleasure to meet you and a dubious regret for the necessity."

"Pleasure to meet you, sir," Kix answered, bowing his head to her. "I'd love to talk to you about non-Force healing techniques, when you have time, but... there's the problem of the moment, first." 

"Indeed." She indicated Plo should have a seat out of the way and came around the workstation she had been placing equipment on. "Master Koon indicated you have concern that the chip within you," she began, after having turned on a small device, "may not be functional. However, it is a beginning. And, despite proscriptions handed down by those people, I have instructed a healer I trust in the field to place one of your people's bodies in stasis and get it to me at first opportunity, because of this.

"I do not know your people's views on corpses, Kix, but I felt it the most discreet way to hopefully acquire an intact one."

"We burn our dead," Kix answered, "as soon as possible. Which... makes a lot of sense, given this kriffing thing." He pointed at his temple, then went on. "But there's not a brother alive that wouldn't be glad to have his body used to help our brothers find freedom. Whoever he is, he can have a proper cremation after.

"And as to the one in me, I'm about as scared of it still being functional as I am that a nonfunctional one won't be any help, sir." 

"Up on the berth then. I plan to do a full body scan, to be certain the chip is all that has been implanted, and to get a proper baseline while I have a volunteer," Vokara told him. "Plo, unless the good medic requires a chaperone for his comfort, why are you here?"

"To more quickly bring an expert in once if the technology side of it requires such," he said evenly to his age mate.

"Hmm, allowable."

Kix could tell the exchange was marked by long familiarity between the pair. He stripped off his gear, to keep the stuff in his pouches (and his blasters) from interfering, and settled onto the berth obediently. "Sounds like a good plan, sir."

Vokara came over and helped position him perfectly for the scanner she was using, and then gave him a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder. "My views on slavery and coercing actions are as stringent as Plo's. We will find a way out of this trap, young man."

She then started the scanner, moving it from head to toe and back again. After, she took biological samples from him, and started everything on their machines. She did not dissuade him at all from joining her at the workstation, though she had one small warning.

"I have the controls locked to me, just in case. Once the chip, and any other abnormal findings are dealt with, I will let the machines answer to you as well. It is a precaution, in case you are unaware of secondary protocols."

"That makes good sense, sir," Kix replied, nodding. "I -- I couldn't see it for what it was, when one was set off by head trauma. No, I couldn't even kriffing **see** it. I had to break about a dozen layers of conditioning in my head to figure it out, to realize what'd been done to us. And I still didn't do it in **time**... but we will, now." 

"So we shall." She nodded to him, her lekku twitching a little in appreciation of his drive. "Your brothers will be saved. And from there, somehow, we will wrest the Republic back to a better path."

Plo made a snort of approval for her. In setting Kix up with her, he had held a mind-to-mind conference with her, letting her know everything. It was one more piece of insurance, after all, and one less likely to see combat.

They would beat this… and then he could bring the full Order's resources into play against Sheev Palpatine.

+++

The Temple had a lot more people in it, Anakin noticed, but many of them were … sporting armor on arms and legs? And in a hurry to get somewhere, he quickly noted. He headed for his quarters, shared with Obi-Wan for a decade now, and continued blanking his 'recovery' on Naboo from his mind.

The last thing he needed was for Obi-Wan to pick up on **any** of that.

Obi-Wan was in quarters, as was Medic Kix, who quickly rose as the door came open.

"Anakin," Obi-Wan greeted, but there was worry all around his eyes. "Later, Kix?"

"Yes sir." Kix moved to leave then. His generals surely needed time on their own, without him hovering. His own general looked good, tanned a little more than usual, glove already on his hand (but it was a shorter glove than the one Kix was used to, to his satisfaction). 

"Master, Kix," Anakin said, his voice warm as he reached out a hand to catch hold and say hello. "It's good to see you. Everyone treating you all right?" 

He'd tell Kix later about the comms back and forth with Tatooine, about that Mom was getting better quickly, and that Padmé almost had Cliegg convinced to come to Naboo with her when she was well enough to travel. To retire, Padmé was calling it. 

"Quite well, sir," Kix said warmly. "They keep me busy, and that's good." He hoped General Buir was right, that presenting his _jetii_ with the puzzle of cracking the chips' transmission vector, it might help stabilize him for the revelation about Palpatine. "Take care."

He passed on through the door and let it close, hoping that the conversation about to happen went well.

Obi-Wan had been looking Anakin over and was pleased with the relative lack of stress he was seeing. "I take it that the Senator was called back for the vote officially making the Order responsible for the men?"

"Yes, Master," Anakin agreed, nodding as he moved to sit down near his Master, eyes running over him. Obi-Wan looked... fairly good, really. Better than he had when Anakin had last seen him, by a lot. Though he still looked tired, and new lines of stress had cut themselves into his face. Anakin didn't approve of that, at all, even though he understood why. 

"Hmm. We're supposed to meet our unit soon," Obi-Wan said with a sigh. "Apparently, between the Stark Hyperspace war and Yinchorr, plus being Master Jinn's student, they want me to take one of the units with a Marshal Field Commander. A full legion, it looks like, but with plans to determine which company will be a good fit for you as a fast response unit."

"Yeah?" Anakin asked, pleased at the recognition for his Master, and the idea that Obi-Wan was considering how best to use him that **didn't** involve just keeping him at his side. "Well, good. You're brilliant. I mean -- nothing about this is good. The Order, holding a kriffing **slave army**? It's wrong, it's obscene... but we can't... not help people. Not protect them." 

Padmé had cried for hours when she'd seen the actual Senate records and realized Jar Jar was responsible for the Senate voting the power to utilize the clones, to create the Grand Army of the Republic... but it was done. Now they all just had to live with it. 

"No, nothing is good, but Kix is guiding the Council on how to handle things so they have fewer desertions and early traitors among those that the brainwashing programs failed on," Obi-Wan said with just enough fake emotion to show how little he cared for those practices. "Master Fisto and Bant are both perusing older laws, looking for the loopholes to free them."

Obi-Wan took a deep breath then, and started to say something, but sat back instead and stroked his beard, giving Anakin a chance to digest that.

Anakin snarled for a moment, deep in his throat, and shook his head. As far as he was concerned, if it took brainwashing to make them loyal, the more that rebelled the better -- but then again, where could they really run to? Their face would probably be everywhere, soon, making it impossible to escape... then he nodded in relief at his Master's last words. 

That let him relax a little, some of the tension leaching out of him as he sat next to his Master. That was good. "Knight Eerin's amazing at finding things in the Archives," he said, nodding again. "And there's got to be something, somewhere. I'm glad they're looking for it." 

"The main thing is to protect all of them, and we cannot protect them if they do leave or break Republic laws," Obi-Wan said. "Plans are in place with those who can do the most good. Adamant self-determinists like the Iktotchi and Chandrilians are going to be assisting in finding ways to fix this.

"But… enough of that. I hope you are fully rested and ready to handle duties, Anakin, as they've changed somewhat. Or, will be, once a formality is observed."

"What?" Anakin blinked at his Master, his head cocking to the side. "I mean -- yes, the doctors all cleared me and I've got the hand doing some pretty neat stuff, but... what? Formality?" 

Because he was so, so great at those. 

Obi-Wan sighed and rubbed at his face then, abandoning the neat petting of his beard. "It seems, by the time the Council assembled, some changes in status were decided upon. Master Fisto has taken a seat on the Council… over his own protests… and I was advanced to the full rank of 'master'.

"When I protested, Anakin, because I'm not ready and I had your welfare to worry over, I was also informed, by Master Windu, that you are to be made a Knight, once you were back."

What? 

**What**?

Anakin shook his head, convinced that he was either hearing things or his Master was joking -- but no, he looked completely, even unhappily, serious. That stung, because he'd been waiting for his Master to decide he was ready for the trials for what felt like ages... and now he _still_ wasn't recommending him for them, but he was going to be Knighted anyway? 

And it had come from **Master Windu**? Windu didn't even **want** him in the Temple, he never had, and... "What?" 

"It's what you want, yes? To be your own Knight? Two separate Council members, and no I do not know which, convinced Master Windu that you were not only ready, but that you should not face the Trials."

Obi-Wan hated it, had since he got past all of his shock, and had done all he could to argue the idea of a fast-strike unit being part of his legion, just to keep Anakin close. It had nothing to do with doubting Anakin's ability, other than the overly emotional side of his padawan, and --

\-- far too much to do with his own overly emotional side. He had wanted to keep sharing all that he had learned with this brilliant padawan, to guide him for as long as he could, to keep him closer, safer maybe.

Anakin was truly baffled now, and he tried to both nod and shake his head at the same time. "I won't pretend I don't," he replied, watching his Master's face, alert to him -- and very, very aware his Master was unhappy at this turn of events. "But I don't understand, either. That's... not how things are done, right?" 

He also didn't know what he'd done to have two Masters on the Council say something like that, or what was going to come of it -- and not taking his Trials was another thing that was going to mark him out as different when it got around the ever-thriving Temple gossip network. "And you're upset about it." 

Obi-Wan met his padawan's eyes, and remembered what Kix had been hammering away at him on the fact Anakin was far more at risk of tragedy than he'd realized.

"I was not ready to end our partnership. They say the master never is, but … I resent that ours is being ended without full choice, even as mine was. My only solace is that you at least still live."

"Master," Anakin breathed, shocked, all of his building temper washed away by the response, the mix of grief and resentment that wasn't targeted at him, and he lunged for his Master's hand, catching it to hold. That 'the master never is', and the ' **I** was not ready', those changed so much of what he'd thought he was hearing. 

"I'm here," he murmured, unsure what else to say, how else he could respond, but... he couldn't stand his Master's unhappiness or disappointment, no matter how often those had been his fault. 

"Shh, Anakin," Obi-Wan said softly, seeking to reassure him. "I will get over it. And you will be near, at least at first," he added, though he did not take back his hand. "Your efforts in the Arena, and after, were those of a solid Jedi in the making.

"You do deserve this… even if I can't help but remind you to mind your temper. But then, I think that advice is flying around the Temple currently."

"I will be," Anakin agreed, his fingers still wrapped around his Master's hand, watching his face closely, and then he nodded at the last words. "I... I know. I do try, Master. But it's... it's going to be more important now, isn't it? There's not just you and me to worry about." 

Together, **they** could handle anything... but these men, the clones... they didn't have the Force to help them. And they were going to be his responsibility. 

"Indeed, that is true," Obi-Wan said, chuckling a little. "Somehow, we will do this." He retrieved his hand and patted Anakin's lightly in doing so. "I suppose all that's left, then, is do you wish to sever the braid privately or in a fuller ceremony?"

Anakin felt himself flinching a breath too late to stop it, his fingers almost flicking up to the tight braid down his cheek. That, at least, he managed to stop, thank Force. He wanted to be a Knight so badly, wanted not to be answerable to Obi-Wan for every kriffing thing... but the thought of actually cutting the braid that had been a constant reminder of the soft 'I'll look after you' since he was nine years old suddenly frightened him. "I -- nothing big." 

That, at least, he was sure of. 

"Alright." Obi-Wan took a deep breath. "Shall we do it now, then and move past this so we can start thinking about ways to find Dooku and end this?"

He felt his hands shake for a moment, looking at the look on his Master's face, the way he looked as unsettled as Anakin suddenly felt, and he had to look away. "I've been trying to convince you of this for **how** long, and now I'm -- " 

"While I'm rushing it," Obi-Wan said, understanding. "Oh Anakin." His voice was gentle. "Hand me -- hmm, that's still a borrowed lightsaber, isn't?" He stood from the couch and went into his room to get a lightsaber that had significance instead. He came back with one whose hilt had been made for a larger hand, one that Anakin recognized from so long ago. 

That made him smile, a little, because Master Qui-Gon's 'saber had started so much for him, and he nodded. That was better than the one tossed to him on the sands, and it made him feel better about the whole thing. He took a slow breath, and was glad he'd spent part of the time in hyperspace properly redoing his braid. 

He'd had no idea why, but... apparently this was why. 

Obi-Wan didn't fumble, and made the cut swiftly after, but it felt like a physical blow. He knew he was supposed to start undoing the bond… but that was too much, and could wait. Later. Yes, later.

"Knight Skywalker," he said, voice barely steady.

Anakin bit into his lip, looking up at his Master (his beloved older brother, closest thing he had ever had to a father) hearing that edge behind his voice with another twist in his own chest. It felt wrong, bitter-tasting on his tongue, and he reached up for his free wrist, holding on. 

"Master Kenobi," he said with a forced quirk of his mouth, to recognize the rank Obi-Wan only should have had after he was knighted, then said, "Obi-Wan," in the next breath at a flash of something worse-wounded in his Master's eyes, reaching for him across their bond.

Obi-Wan matched that reach, affirmation that he was still, and always would be, there for Anakin. ~My brave padawan no more.~

~Always my teacher,~ Anakin answered, relaxing a little at the contact and the rare word of praise. ~And my best friend.~ 

He'd thought, by the point they got to his Knighthood, that his Master might finally be proud of him. 

~My brother, my student, my friend,~ Obi-Wan avowed to him.

~Yes,~ Anakin replied, relaxing a little more as Obi-Wan laid those claims on him, things that weren't the Master and padawan relationship that sometimes chafed him so badly. ~All of that.~

He took a slow breath, and made himself let go of his -- his brother's -- wrist. "Did I mention how glad I am that you're okay?" 

Obi-Wan put Qui-Gon's lightsaber on the coffee table and sat down close to Anakin. "That is mutual… and now, before we have to plunge into this war, why don't you tell me about Tatooine? I can guess that the visions got worse, but… if you want to talk, I promise to listen."

Anakin flinched for a moment, then took a slow breath and nodded. He hadn't done anything unforgivable, and maybe the next time the Force was yelling at him, his Ma -- Obi-Wan -- would listen. "On the transport," he agreed, "then at the Lake House." House, hah, it was a kriffing palace, but that was its name, so. "I could hear her screaming, feel... feel that she was in pain. She needed me. 

"Padmé said she would go with me." He had to take a breath, and forcibly even his voice, to say the next bit. "When we got to Watto's shop, he said he'd sold her, years ago." 

"Sold -- oh Anakin." For the first time in a long time, Obi-Wan was angry at his master for more than just dying. It was anger that Jinn's focus on Anakin had kept him from actually stating the woman was in slavery too. "You… no. Qui-Gon didn't actually say she was enslaved, Anakin. With his focus on you, and the assumption on my part that if you both had been slaves, he would have freed you both… I had not realized."

"He tried to," Anakin said, while a significant portion of his mind tried to error like a faulty console at his Master's words. He'd been so afraid of the Council sending him away that it had taken the visions to make him even mention her again, more than in passing, but... Obi-Wan hadn't... known? Hadn't realized? 

He'd always thought it just hadn't mattered to outlanders, and his Master's ability to be so casually dismissive of the plight of others outside the scope of their missions had only reinforced that. But... he hadn't known? "Watto just wouldn't sell Mom -- he was mad about losing me, and losing what he bet on Sebulba in the race, and Master Qui-Gon had made him angry by being such an **outlander** about things." He shook his head, trying to drag himself away from that part. 

"Well, that's definitely Master Qui-Gon, no matter where we went," Obi-Wan said with a sniff. "Bull on through, nothing but the mission at hand in his mind." He patted Anakin's hand. "But… he'd sold her. Was this why you were feeling her pain?"

Anakin shook his head quickly. "No," he said, smiling now at the memory of the family his mother had found. "It -- the man that bought her, it was to free her. Like one of the stories at night, but **real**." He had to laugh for a second, at how ridiculous it was, and how amazing. "He freed her, and he married her. I have a -- a stepbrother. A couple years younger than me, I think. He adores Mom. They have a farm on the edge of the Dune Sea, on the other side of the planet from Mos Espa. Prosperous, for a farmstead. 

"But the Dune Sea means Tuskens." 

"Tuskens? One of the nomad species native to the planet," Obi-Wan said, recalling the data he'd read while stuck on the ship with the very nervous Panaka and the fake Queen with her handmaidens and the good pilot Ric.

The handmaidens had unnerved him at times, he could admit now.

Anakin nodded once, tightly. "Dangerous, and they don't like, even hate, anyone not like them. Not their species, I'd say, but they do sometimes take children when they kill adults. They take adults, too, but to torture and kill. 

"A band of them -- Mom had gone out to pick some of the mushrooms that grow on the vaporators, that can only be harvested before first dawn. They took her. The day I started having the visions, or the day before." 

Obi-Wan hissed in a breath. "Oh. And I was so dismissive… no wonder you were such a ball of anger since Ansion."

Anakin nodded. "Not... I wasn't Seeing clearly, I didn't **know** , not until after we separated, but... yeah. Her husband, Cliegg... he tried to go after her. Took a whole group of men. He lost a leg, everyone got hurt, most of them died. He'd given up. I -- I don't blame him, I mean... I have no idea how Mom was still alive. 

"But she was. Just. Just barely." He swallowed, remembering getting into the hut, seeing Mom, feeling -- he tried to push it away, to remember handing her over to Owen to take to the hospital, to remember the comm unit Padmé had sent to them and the comms back and forth. Anything but that first minute. 

"Oh." Obi-Wan could not stop himself because that had washed through the bond. He pulled Anakin under his arm, getting his head on a shoulder. "Shh, dear one… shh."

Anakin turned, burrowing in against Obi-Wan's shoulder like he was eleven again, taking a ragged, sharp-edged breath. "I -- if Kix hadn't shown up, just as I got there, I... don't know what I would have done. I -- I couldn't have saved her without him. She was... so weak. 

"But he **was** there. He was there, and we got her back home and Owen took her to the closest doctor and she's going to be **fine**." 

"Good. Good." Obi-Wan petted Anakin's hair. "I am glad, for your sake, and hers."

Anakin stayed burrowed against him, trying to pull himself back to calm, to steadiness, to where he should be as a Jedi -- as a Jedi _Knight_ , even. It was easier, with his Master's hand stroking over his hair, Obi-Wan's arm strong around his shoulders. "Me, too. A lot. I had to leave Kix to follow me, to take Mom back, and we were about halfway back to the homestead when Padmé set the ship down in front of us. Artoo'd told her enough that she came after us." 

"Fortunately for me," Obi-Wan said dryly. "She made certain I knew that you were acting on her orders, by the way." He leaned his head over onto Anakin. "She wanted to be sure you did not get in trouble."

"She said she told you," Anakin nodded, breathing easily and settled against his -- his brother's side. "She's... really not Master Windu's biggest fan. I didn't ask before, even with what you said about a company, but now that Gunray's dead and the war actually begun, are they pulling me away from protecting her?" 

"Yes," Obi-Wan said. "I was told you would be returning today, and that CorSec has detailed extra presence around her and other anti-war Senators," Obi-Wan said. "Master Sinube said that this came from the Order, not the Senate, so I am confident it is meant in earnest, not threat."

Anakin nodded. He hadn't expected to be able to stay with her forever, no matter how nice that would have been -- and he hated the idea of Obi-Wan out in combat without him, so. That made sense. "Master Sinube would know," he agreed, still not moving. 

Obi-wan left his cheek against Anakin's head, eyes focused on the fallen braid. He'd pick it up in a bit, and place it with his own, but for now… now he was indulging his need to have someone he loved close by.


	5. Coming Together, Bit by Bit

Plo was pleased that he still had a day, at least, before Kenobi's unit arrived and took the pair away. He wanted Skywalker off planet as soon as possible, but first, he needed to talk to the young man.

Once it was a half decent hour in the Temple, he set his path for the hall that pair lived on, only pausing to accept a run-by hugging from an excitable Togruta Initiate. That left him in even better spirits as he faced the coming difficulties; he knew she had done very well on a test of her telekinetic skills the evening before.

Reaching the door where his long time friend and creche-brother had lived once, he tapped lightly rather than use the sensor plate, so they should know it was an informal visit.

Anakin bounced to his feet to go get the door, wondering who was knocking at this hour. As a new Knight, he ought to be thinking about an apartment of his own... but then again, how often were they even going to be in the Temple, now? Also, he didn't want to. 

He opened the door, and blinked at Master Plo. "Hello, Master," he said, dipping his head. "Come in, please." 

"Greetings, Knight Skywalker," pleased to apply the appellation, as Kix had relayed so much about this young man, and Saesee had been full of praise for him too. "I come with a small mission for you, that can be carried on even as you deploy."

Several chips, once Vokara had isolated its location, had been discreetly removed from fallen soldiers, and relayed to the Temple. Bultar had been given one before she left with a unit, and Ki-Adi was puzzling at one. Plo wished Anakin, with his mechanical and electronic abilities, to tackle one as well, to find the likely methods of transmission and how to block them.

"Oh? What is it, Master?" Anakin asked, as Master Plo took a chair, the 'Knight Skywalker' rippling through him. It'd been amazing to hear his Master say it, but hearing a Master of the Council say it, especially actually sounding pleased about it, was a different kind of pleasure. 

Plo reached into an inner pocket and brought out a glass vial with a small chip inside it. "This is a top-secret project, Skywalker. No one outside of the Order must ever know about it, to include the men you are going to work with.

"Medic Kix brought the existence of these chips to our attention. They can bypass the will and wishes of the men they are implanted in… the entire Army."

Anakin felt his teeth skin back from his lips, his eyes fixed on the vial of glass with metal and circuitry, something wild and furiously hot burning in his chest, too hot to contain, his ears hearing not the Temple but Me'lani screaming over her sister's body when Res'ka tried to escape and got caught. He could almost smell the blood, the death-reek of that moment -- 

\-- there was a hand on his shoulder and he tried to jerk away from it, before he heard his Master's voice and went still, trying to shake off the sudden fury. 

"Careful, now, Anakin," Obi-Wan said in a gentle, patient voice. "Come away from the pain and memory," he added.

Plo shifted on his chair, reaching a hand out toward the young man. "I did not mean to trigger such a darkness within your mind, Skywalker. But I am told you have great skill with circuitry, and we must break these!"

Anakin breathed, leaning back against Obi-Wan's arm, his hand, and looked at Master Plo, then moved close enough to take that offered hand. "I... am sorry, Master. It's -- Tatooine uses detonating chips to control its enslaved population. Master Qui-Gon removed mine, on the way to Coruscant. 

"Bad enough they were created as slave soldiers... but **that** \-- it's -- Making them not even able to **think** for themselves?! I -- " 

"I agree with you fully," Plo Koon said, watching as Obi-Wan managed to keep contact and still maneuver to sit beside Anakin. "My former padawan Bultar insisted that any connections be made to a pad that has no connectivity to anything else. She and Master Mundi are the only two that have another to explore in that fashion, as the Master Healer stated it was outside her ability to determine the full scope of it.

"Kix is unaware of how it was activated in his original time, but knows that it was," Plo finished.

"Time travel," Obi-Wan said, shaking his head. "It still makes me… skeptical, even though his guidance has been so helpful so far."

"That's smart of Knight Swan," Anakin replied, nodding. "Don't want it tattling that we're poking it. And... you can be skeptical, Master, but I felt the Force do... something, and then he was there, where nobody had been just a few seconds before. I know, I actually looked before I leaped for once." 

Obi-Wan chuckled at that. "A new trick, to be certain."

"How could he have learned it, Obi-Wan? I know who trained you," Plo said evenly. He then looked at Anakin. "Take it, determine how it works, what it does, and how to disable it en masse," he entreated, holding the vial out to Anakin. "Once you have a solution, bring it to Master Che and Kix. She is looking for a virus that can act on it without damaging the men, something to attack the connectors, but it's as time-consuming as slicing the chips is going to be, to find the right one."

Anakin blinked in surprise at the first comment, wondering at the history there, then nodded. He reached out carefully for the despicable, disgusting monstrosity of a thing that he was, by the Force, going to figure out how to disable, and took it. "I will," he answered, making it a vow. This thing had to be destroyed, had to be ended. 

That was just all there was to it. Kix had said something about saving his brothers, and this... this was part of what he'd meant. 

He had to do this, had to get this right. 

"I have faith in that, Skywalker," Plo said, adhering to the policy of actually giving praise to the boy, as Kix thought it might help cement the ties back to the Order.

"If you can keep us abreast of where Master -- oh, wait. Under the new organizational chart, I should know where Master Mundi is. So, I will just need updates on Bultar, Master, so if Anakin needs to actually partner one or the other to share findings, I will know where to direct him."

"Ahh, yes, she wound up in Master Tholme's grouping."

The faith and certainty made Anakin smile at Master Plo, bright and quick and delighted, as it helped him calm down even more. He could do this, he could figure this out. There wasn't a piece of tech in the kriffing galaxy he couldn't make do his bidding with a little time and some effort, this one wasn't going to be the exception. "Thank you, Master." 

"No. Thank you." Plo then stood up, and moved to leave. "I will leave you to the rest of your day, young ones. Try and put business away and enjoy it? Your unit arrives tomorrow." He paused at the door. "If you need a distraction, several senior Initiates are staging a tournament tonight, under Master Drallig's watch. The rules are such that they will not be constrained to formal Forms, though use of such will earn them more points."

"Intriguing way to handle that," Obi-Wan said, stroking his beard. "A student who goes unconventional will have to be confident enough to win, or they may lose on points."

Anakin nodded, thinking that was probably the whole point, and wondered why Master Plo had thought to mention that. Unless he thought Obi-Wan should have a new padawan -- but kriff, a war was no place for a youngling. He'd seen Barriss, shaken and almost all the color bleached out of her skin, before they left Geonosis, and she was only a few years younger than he was. Someone that was an Initiate now? No way. 

"It sounds interesting, maybe," he said, though he wanted to go to Padmé and tell her everything that had happened. Except about the chips. Those, he was telling exactly **no one** about. 

"I look forward to seeing the change in techniques," Obi-Wan said, and Anakin could see his master was interested. While Anakin only knew Master Drallig, Obi-Wan had trained under a Twi'leki named Bondara.

"I thought you might. As there is one intent on taking your titles away from you," Plo said with a chuckle, and then he left.

Anakin glanced at his Master, making a curious noise at that almost sly parting comment and arching a brow. Obi-Wan blushed a little, and looked away. 

"I rather upended standings each time I mastered one of the Forms. I presume he believes this Initiate is trying to do the same, younger." 

Anakin didn't often look at the standings screens, he was just too late to it to ever have a Form mastery, though he was kriffing effective, but he could definitely believe that of his Master. He nodded, amused. "I should probably go tell the Senator she's losing her Jedi bodyguard in person," he said, "and maybe talk to the CorSec people, but I'll come down when I get back out of the traffic? Assuming you're going, anyway." 

"I do plan to go. Those younglings will likely be waiting a long while for masters; they should at least have people show appreciation for their skills, while we can." Obi-Wan nodded. "Tell Padmé hello for me, Anakin."

"I will," he nodded, trying to keep from breaking into an utterly ridiculous smile at the thought of her. His wife. 

+++

Anakin walked out of the elevator door, searching for her with his eyes and the Force alike, still smiling from the assorted people that had greeted him as a Knight on the way up. "Angel?" 

She was at her desk, replying to messages, but her eyes came up immediately, a smile on her lips until she noted the missing braid.

"Ani?" She was up and moving toward him quickly, concern all over her features despite his smile. "Ani, please tell me you didn't resign!"

"No, no!" Anakin shook his head, reaching out for her hands, "nothing like that. I just -- the Council -- 

"I'm a Knight. They said I'd shown the skill needed, or something," he went on, feeling like a complete idiot for not being able to tell her coherently, but... he still wasn't entirely sure how he felt about it, with Obi-Wan upset. 

"Oh." She smiled for him, letting him take one hand but sliding the other up along the side where the hair had been severed. "The Council? Really? You seemed certain they don't like you."

"They don't," Anakin replied, before he shrugged, spreading his free hand in confusion. "Or, they never have. Master Plo seems like maybe he does now? Which is really strange, because he **really** didn't like me at first. Or... maybe Kix told him something." 

That was... probably it, actually. Things he hadn't done yet, but would, turning Master Plo's opinion in his favor, since Kix had obviously been talking to him a lot. "But... they told Obi-Wan he had to. Of course, they also promoted **him** to Master, which he's... being himself about." 

"Oh?" Padmé inquired, before guiding him to her couch. "Sit with me, Ani. I don't have a meeting for another hour, and I'd rather hear about your day than answer messages."

Anakin went with her, settling down close, and breathed in the faint perfume she wore with a swell of pleasure and peace. "I... thought he'd finally lay into me about being on Tatooine," he admitted, "but... he didn't. He told me some about what they're planning as far as deployments are concerned, and that Master Fisto and Knight Eerin are looking through the Archives for anything we can use to help free the men... 

"And then he dropped that they promoted him to Master 'despite my protest that I was not ready' on me, and that was when they told him he was Knighting me, pretty much rather he liked it or not." 

Padmé's eyes went glittery at that idea, and she set her mouth in a thin line before replying. "He'd better well accept it gracefully, or I will have so many words for him!" 

"Hey," he said, driven to defend his Master, his brother, by the memory of the pain in his eyes, "it's not -- he's... he lost Master Qui-Gon before he was ready, and.. now they're taking me away from him. He's -- he wasn't ready for that. For this." He reached up and flicked his hand at the empty air by his ear. 

"But I'm going to be staying with his overall unit for a while, reinforcing him, which is good. He'd do something like dive out a kriffing window again **without** anybody to rescue him if I wasn't." 

That made his wife giggle and relax a little, but her face had gone very soft at the mention of losing Qui-Gon, the memory of something clouding the moment. "Well, just try not to fly through a conduction field again when you do rescue him," she said sweetly.

"I'll try," Anakin agreed, because really, that had hurt about as much as anything before having his hand sliced off had, and he didn't want to experience it again, either. The accompanying Force Lightning had been worse than the conduction field, though. It had had hate with it, wanting to hurt him. "Wait, how did you -- I didn't tell you that!" 

Padmé giggled at him. "Moté pulled every camera view she could when she was told about it, and we had the full list of traffic violations too." She kissed his cheek. "The company that owned that one lodged a formal complaint. CorSec apparently turned it aside on 'official Jedi business' reasons.

"I had fun watching the chase last night with my staff, since we all decided we needed to put it fully behind us."

"You -- oh, kriff," Anakin said, feeling even the tips of his ears heating at the idea. It'd been some of the best flying he'd done in a while, and trickiest, but... on the cameras? "Really?" 

"Artoo was making commentary through most of it - OH! Speaking of… you have to take him with you," Padmé said with a long-suffering sigh. "He feels it is his duty to help in this war and is very worried over you."

"Take Artoo?" Anakin asked, startled, blinking at her in surprise. He'd love to, Artoo was amazing and the cleverest astromech he'd ever met, but... he belonged with Padmé. Not to, but with. "You're sure? He's sure? It's... going to be bad out there. It's already bad." 

"I know. But he is a free citizen of Naboo, and like some of our pilots, he is volunteering to help," she told him. "To be honest, I'll worry over both of you, but also feel safer, knowing you have each other."

Anakin nodded at that... he could understand, he thought. "Okay, then." 

Artoo with him. That would be great. Maybe he'd tell stories about Padmé and all the years he hadn't seen her, if Anakin asked right.

"Alright, that's Artoo taken care of. And a catch-up… and we still have three quarters of an hour…." she said in a voice that went straight through all Anakin was to the part that belonged fully to her.

He felt himself grinning, now, instant, as he reached for her, dipping his head to kiss her, just for a second, before he murmured, "We do, huh? How long to get all dressed up again?" 

"Ten minutes, with your help," she promised him, before chasing a kiss of her own.

+++

Kix was watching from one of the upper galleries as Commander Cody and Captain Rex (wearing the gold, not the blue, but the blue came later) entered to meet the Jedi pair being assigned to their legion. He could not help but think that they still looked shiny, despite the newly renumbered 212th having already fought at two major battles and a few small skirmishes in the weeks since Geonosis. 

Rex had a stick up his _shebs_ still, carrying himself with that stiff 'I will prove myself' and he wondered if he should have warned Skywalker on **why** Rex was so different from most command staff. Cody, on the other hand, was much the same as ever, barring the unscarred eye.

Kriff, but he kept forgetting to mention the witch!

He noticed that Kenobi had jerked, startled apparently, by something in the pair, walking with their buckets under their arms… and then he remembered that Kenobi knew Mando culture pretty well. Rex had had the Jaig Eyes since they'd been almost nine, one of the few decorated during training with an accolade. That probably had been the reason.

Anakin tensed as his -- brother jumped, turning just enough to look at Obi-Wan worriedly, but he shook his head and Anakin sighed. When Obi-Wan didn't want to talk about something, nothing could get it out of him. 

He was still sort of amazed he'd been as honest as he had when they cut his braid, actually. He looked towards the pair, and wondered what they were like, glad he'd find out soon. 

"Sirs!," the one with the visor and shoulder pauldron greeted them. "Commander Cody and Captain Rex, reporting as ordered!"

Rex, it seemed, was wearing the kama associated with ARC training. Both men had it, but the Field Marshal did not wear his out of personal choice, the file had said. Anakin saw the butterfly wings on the helmet, or what looked like them, and knew he needed to find out what they meant.

"At ease, gentlemen," Obi-Wan said. "I am Obi-Wan Kenobi, and this is Anakin Skywalker. Captain, you will be assisting Anakin in putting together a rapid response unit under his direct leadership, while you, Commander, will be helping with the full command of our unit.

"We both are looking forward to learning all we can from you both."

Cody did not betray his surprise any more than Rex did, not outwardly, but both Jedi caught a wisp of it in the Force.

They did the deadpan thing way too well, Anakin decided, but he'd work his way through that eventually. Couldn't have the people that were going to be backing them up and providing the majority of the firepower holding themselves at a distance. "Nice to meet you both, Commander, Captain. 

"Any immediate objections to my Master's idea there, either of you?" 

"No, sir," Cody answered. "We have more than enough personnel to make a rapid-response unit, as we absorbed the remnants of the campaign near Sullust."

Sullust had been a very surprising attack, but the Republic had, barely, managed to turn it back, two days after Geonosis. Casualties had been high, so it made sense the smaller units had been absorbed into a larger legion.

"I believe, gentlemen, we should probably go ahead and go with you to your… our… ship, then, and look at our mutual orders," Obi-Wan said. "Anakin, is Artoo capable of bringing your ship up alone, so we may share the officer's transport up?"

Anakin rolled his eyes in amusement. "Of course he is, Obi-Wan; ask him for something difficult next time, huh?" 

He tapped his comm. "Hey, buddy. Time to get up to the new ship, you've got all the codes, but I'm going up with Obi-Wan and our command staff. Don't scratch it, huh?" 

Artoo spluttered indignantly at him, warbling that he would never scratch a ship in simple transit, and shut the comm off with a finishing squeal. Anakin flicked it back on. "I was joking, buddy, come on, I **do** know you wouldn't. See you there in a few." 

[Upgrade to your humor circuitry required,] Artoo warbled in exasperation, [will see you.]

Rex's eyebrow went up and he looked at the Jedi he was going to be dealing with more. "Your astromech seems a bit… opinionated." 

Obi-Wan was pleased that at least one other person could understand the astromech without a translator. He could not make out all the nuance… but that skill would set very well with Anakin.

"Oh yeah," Anakin agreed, grinning in pleasure at that Rex had obviously understood exactly what Artoo had to say, "opinionated is definitely Artoo -- R2-D2, really -- and he's earned it. Something about saving my life and a planet, too. I met him when I was nine, and he'd been in service for a few years by then. He's technically employed by the Naboo Embassy, but he insisted on coming along to keep me out of trouble. We'll see how that works out for him.

"Remind me to tell the tech crews as soon as we get up there that he doesn't get the standard memory wipes -- as a freed droid, they're illegal. Classified data, he'll remove himself." 

"Yes sir. Might be interesting to see how a droid like that acts," Rex mused, not so blinded by anti-droid sentiment to miss the ramifications of an unwiped astromech.

"That medic in your company is not going to be his favorite," Cody said, before he turned. "This way, sirs." He indicated the way they'd come so they could get back to the men, back to the fleet awaiting them, with the flag ship that Obi-Wan was to take command of.

Anakin was still grinning. "Artoo's pretty unique, and likes to make friends." He got moving with Commander Cody and Captain Rex, his Master right beside him. "Why do you say that, Commander?" 

"Right after Geonosis, after we lost so many," Rex began, "the medic decided he hated all droids forever and had the sentiment etched into his hairline. Permanently."

"The only good droid is a dead droid," Cody said. "We were told personal decoration was acceptable, after all," he added, glancing at Obi-Wan.

"Highly encouraged, even, Commander," the elder Jedi said. "Requisition tattoo and paint supplies as needed, to honor your heritage."

"...yeah, Artoo will have some things to say about that," Anakin replied, shaking his head. "But then again, he hates B1s and droidekas about as much as any other Naboo citizen, so. Maybe it won't be so bad... we'll find out. 

"Seriously, whatever you need in that department, we'll acquire." 

"Alright, then, sirs," Cody said, while Rex looked thoughtful.

Kix watched the four leave, and felt a weight lifting, because that was the beginning of the best teams in the Army right there.

They just had to safeguard his brothers, and all would be fine… somehow.


	6. Dealing with the Bomb

Kix looked at Vokara after she repeated her findings, and then shrugged. "If you're waiting for me to be angry, I'm not. The longnecks can't sell more product if we last too long," he said.

The Twi'leki Jedi let her lekku speak her irritation with that, before she brought an inoculation over. "I find it personally reprehensible. Now, will you be my test subject for the fix for it?"

"Of course," Kix replied, raising a brow at her for that she'd thought she even had to ask. "Just because I'm not angry about it doesn't mean I don't want it **fixed**."

"We'll have to apply it after the other fix," Vokara said apologetically, "for your brothers. As it would be noticed… unless I can come up with a need for vaccinations for them." She jabbed the needle in, and pressed the serum through his vein. "This is a retrovirus. As I'd been studying them to try and find a way to disable the chip connection, I'm confident in its effectiveness.

"As to the chip, Skywalker thinks it can be overwhelmed with a frequency burst, Swan is certain that the armor must contain a repeater, and Master Mundi was horrified by what he found on it to the point that he will be advocating for interdicting the Kaminoan system if they are found guilty of collusion."

Kix blinked, cocking his head to the side slightly, surprised by the idea of anything even possibly happening to the longnecks, more than any of the rest of it. "Huh. That's... that's something. I mean... aren't they in the middle of getting a Senate seat for 'services rendered' to the Republic?" 

"It is in process, but that will make them even more liable for breaches of Republic law," Vokara told him, pulling the needle out. "Now, I'll need to do scans until the retrovirus has run its course. If it works as intended, the degradation of your telomeres will be slowed to the average that standard humans face."

Kix smiled at that thought, nodding. "How often do you want me back, then? And.. it'll be interesting, not doing things in double-time, biologically. Sounds good, though." 

"Every three days, unless you feel ill-effects," Vokara said. She then nodded to him and turned back to her other work, letting him go on with his day.

+++

Bultar, working with Anakin, had found a way to combine an electrical conduction field with a specific harmonic to nullify the chips. They had already tested it on Anakin's battle company, using the excuse of getting rid of 'bugs' and 'tracers' that they might have picked up from the droids.

Kix read that dispatch with something not unlike ecstasy, as he knew his brothers would be saved from that part of their fate. He looked up at Plo, and Vokara, on one of her rare sojourns out of the Healers' area.

"Make it standard procedure out of battle, since it doesn't seem to have a long-lasting effect on my brothers themselves? Something so habitual that no one, maybe not even that filth, realizes what it originally did to the chip?

"That is the idea, per Master Mundi, now that they have presented the result of their efforts to him," Plo agreed.

"And now we can go to my general, and fix his head, right?" Kix pressed.

Plo smiled at that intense focus, and nodded at the young man. "I believe that we can indeed, yes," he agreed. He had once considered dealing with young Skywalker's mind before the chip, and that to help focus him afterwards, but that had not been what happened. Now they had his unit, and soon Obi-Wan's, freed of the chips... which meant Anakin was the next priority. Already, Plo had heard about the Chancellor asking specifically for his unit for things -- which was unseemly, but impossible to avoid given the way the Emergency Powers seemed to be working. 

"It should just be a matter of helping him see just who can enact those orders, sir, if I know my general at all. Conditioning or not, he's going to be livid once he can see that it would have been the Chancellor ordering it." At least Kix hoped so.

"Hmm... yes, I certainly think he would be," Plo agreed. "From all I have seen of him in our dealings with this, at least." 

The memory of the boy's obviously untreated trauma and pain around such controlling devices still troubled him, as it was a sure sign of failure both in the Order and for himself, that Anakin was so ridden by events he had had no idea about. "A good thought, my friend." 

"How, Plo, are you going to hide that whatever Force connection exists has been broken?" Vokara asked. "Skywalker is not adept at masking his emotions in the least, not so far as I have ever seen on the rare occasions he's come through my Hall."

"I will just have to do my best to shield him," Plo said, sighing. It would have been a good assignment for Sha… but she was still in the Temple, attempting to pull her psyche together from her padawan dying in her arms.

Kix made a worried noise -- he hadn't thought about that, hadn't considered that with the Force involved that karking traitor would be able to check that his General was still doing what the filth wanted, was still under his sway. But they couldn't leave his General vulnerable, so. They'd just have to do their best to hide it. His _jetii_ would do whatever he had to to protect them, even if he wouldn't for himself. Kix was sure of that. "You're sure you can, sir?"

"It would be easier if he knew certain disciplines, but even as fast a learner as he is, we have no teachers that can be spared to his side for that long," Plo answered. "I will have to make it work."

Vokara made a noise that was scoffing at first, and then turned contemplative. "Plo, we may not have a Knight or Master that can be freed up, but I'm well aware there is an Initiate that has mastered the basic form of it."

"Not you too, Vokara!" Plo protested, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at her -- not that she could see that, but she would know he was. 

"She would not be assigned as a Padawan, but it is not without precedent to allow senior Initiates small missions in the company of a senior Jedi. You and Micah alike abused those clauses with both Bultar and Lissarkh. As Tyvokka did with you!" Vokara met the goggled glare fiercely. "He needs those skills, and she is able to teach them! I have seen her with the smallest crechelings; she's more patient when teaching than any other time."

Kix realized that they had to be talking about his Commander… and Christophsis still hadn't happened, so it would be early. Yet… she had been a stabilizer for their general and unit alike.

Plo growled under his breath, shaking his head. "We were not in the middle of a full-fledged war then, Vokara, though several of those did become more dangerous than we had any intention of. This would be **entirely** different... but it is true that she is very skilled in the necessary arts." 

He disliked this idea, intensely, but... it would be a help for the young man so much rested on. 

"She can do it," Kix said, even as the idea of her and the general getting to know each other first meant… maybe… that the decision to train her would be his. "I have plenty of faith in that, even if she is shiny and young."

Vokara smiled over at him. "Thank you for the support. You've met young Tano?"

"Often," Kix said, thinking of his Commander, and then of the enthusiastic Initiate he'd shared meals with.

Plo huffed out a sigh, utterly displeased, but he could not really argue that it was unreasonable. "I have no doubt she can do it," he replied to Kix, with a shake of his head, "only worry about her." 

"I get that, sir. More than you can believe, maybe. Because I worry too. I just happen to know that this is a good idea, for both of them."

"There. You will shield, she will teach, and then when you can't shield, he will be able to guard himself," Vokara said. "It gets her off Saesee's horns, away from that gundark she keeps getting into trouble with, and solves a thorny problem while we figure out how to tear that man off his power."

Plo sighed, then nodded once. "All true, Vokara, all true. All right." 

Kix seemed so sure it would be all right, and he knew that the young man felt deeply about Ahsoka, so... perhaps it would be all right. 

+++

Ahsoka could not believe she was actually going to be working, outside the Temple, with some of the men and their assigned Jedi! Master Plo wouldn't even be there most of the time. She just had to teach the Knight what Master Kit had been teaching her since she was four.

It wasn't being promoted to Padawan, but it was important!

Plo, for his part, was trying not to fret over his next-youngest Foundling going into a warzone, even if she was to remain on the capital ship, and not participate in any of the fighting. 

He knew her habit of finding mischief, after all.

Kix was grateful they were heading to the _Negotiator_ , not the _Resolute_. He wasn't sure he could take seeing the memorial wall with so few names, not on his own ship, but the _Negotiator_ was a different story. He'd been shiny when he lived on it, just like it still was. They were out of hyperspace, on approach, and he didn't look out, focusing on his Commander next to him, though she wasn't a Commander yet. "All right, Ahsoka?" 

General Buir wouldn't appreciate him checking on him where Ahsoka could hear it, after all. 

"I'm good! I even stayed awake for this trip!" she said, grinning at the medic, but her eyes strayed to her Finder piloting them. It seemed to work, as Plo gave a dry chuckle.

"In your defense, you'd had a busy few days and were all of three," Plo answered that. He then hailed the flagship of the Open Circle Battle Fleet. " _Negotiator_ , this is Master Plo Koon on approach with Jedi business. May we dock?" 

"Of course, General," was the answer a few moments later, but Kix couldn't hear the voice clearly enough to be sure which brother was on comms right now. Directions for which bay to land in followed, and Kix chuckled at Ahsoka. 

"Three, huh?" he asked her, as General Buir followed the directions, 

"Yes! I'd gotten separated from my family and wound up running away from a bounty hunter and Master Plo was there, and then everything was a blur," Ahsoka told him. "But the bounty hunter got taken away, and before Master Plo left, he gave me the choice to go to the Temple.

"I wanted to be like the Jedi-Who-Hunts! So I said yes, and my father agreed, and that was all ten years ago, and a little bit more, I think."

Plo chuckled a little at that rushed recitation of his last trip to Shili. "Yes, a little bit more. As that mission was just after Bultar had knighted, and just before I took Lissarkh as my padawan, officially."

"And now she's a Knight too! And I miss her," Ahsoka admitted.

Kix squeezed her hand lightly, smiling in amusement. He'd never known his Commander had nearly been kidnapped as an infant, but somehow he wasn't entirely surprised. "I haven't met Knight Lissarkh," he said, "but I'm looking forward to the chance." 

"She's the best big sister!"

Kix had, over the weeks he'd been attached to the Temple, become trusted enough that the family words had been said around him. It had made him wonder just what the Jedi Order would have become, after the war, with General Buir already privately at odds with 'no attachments' before the war even became a factor.

If everything worked… he was going to get to find out.

They were soon docked, and the flight officer on duty snapped a quick salute as the trio exited the ship. 

"As you were," Plo said, not much caring for the honors when he had yet to do all he could for these men's lives.

Anakin jogged through the doors to the hangar bay just a couple of seconds later, his eyes flicking over the new ship, then the people -- and he froze at the sight of the girl that had nearly swept the lightsaber exhibition standing half in Master Plo's shadow. What was an Initiate doing out here? 

Obi-Wan (he almost had the hang of not using 'Master' every time he thought of him or went to speak to him, but it was tough) would have told him if he was accepting a padawan, so... what? And there was Kix, too. He smiled at the sight of him, amused almost beyond words at the proof that their sharp-edged medic with the anti-droid tattoos had grown into someone that talked to Artoo as easily as to him in Kix's future. Artoo was making strides with the one in Medical now, but it was still funny. 

Also, he was just glad to see him. "Master Plo!" he called first, from a few steps away, then lower, "Kix. Initiate... Tano, right? Where should we head for, for whatever has brought you?" 

"Somewhere quiet, that will be private?" Plo answered him. "Though, if you have a man to show Ahsoka the ship, that might be best."

"I've studied the layout, but haven't actually been on one, and should know. For later?" Ahsoka said, trying to be charming without being too eager, just as she'd been warned.

"Hello, sir," Kix said quietly, thinking his general was looking… far better than his memory kept saying he ought to.

"Sure," Anakin agreed, then glanced at the Initiate, wondering if she liked ships and engines, like him, or was thinking about when she might be chosen by a master. He looked around, and called, "Hey, Tinker!" 

One of the men in the bay, with his hands in one of the hydraulic landing legs of a lartie, lifted his head. "Sir?!" 

"How long 'til you're done there?" 

"Couple minutes, sir, not long!" 

"Good. Once you're done, show Initiate Tano around the ship. Anything a Commander would need to be familiar with." He glanced at her again, tipping his head a little. "Tinker will take good care of you, as long as you listen to him." 

Ahsoka eyed Tinker, then looked back at Anakin.

"Don't worry, Knight Skywalker. It's a new place; I tend to wait a few days to find trouble in new places," she said, with a smile that showed in eyes and lekku alike.

"Ahsoka," Plo warned, and she gave a much put upon sigh before going over to Tinker. 

"Anything I can lend a hand with?" she asked as she approached him, much as Kix had guessed she would.

Anakin smiled at hearing that, and turned his attention back to Master Plo. "We have a conference room up near our quarters," he offered, "nobody else should have any reason to be in there. That suit?" 

"Yes, it will. Thank you. We do apologize for the intrusion, but it pertains to the Sith plans," Plo told the young man.

Kix fell in step behind, glad the corridors were narrow enough to let him be in the proper location. 

"No need to apologize, Master," Anakin said with a shake of his head, "especially not if it's about _that_. Did something new turn up? No, never mind. How are things in the Temple?"

"Worried, to be honest, Skywalker," Plo told him. "Very few people have been told what the trap is, but they feel the edge of that from some of us. And the war itself… so many deaths. Surviving has its own pain. We will be a long time helping people recover," Plo said.

"Yes, but you'll have our help, sirs," Kix said firmly. "No matter what legal status we wind up with, it will do us all good to move past the war to rebuild for those hurt by it. Once the Sith is beaten."

Anakin growled quietly at the mention of 'what legal status', because there was only one acceptable one -- free -- but he nodded. "There's a lot of reason for people to be worried," he agreed, "even not **knowing**. And grieving, too." 

His Master certainly was, after all. He was, too, but his distance from most of the Temple growing up helped insulate him from it, somewhat. It was still awful, but a little removed from him. 

The turbolift whisked them up smoothly as they spoke 

"Grief is entirely too close, and we must do all we can to prevent its spread," Plo agreed, still worried over his niece's recovery, and aching for her loss. "That is, actually, why we are here today. We may have found a thread to pull and unravel this all."

"Really?" Anakin asked, everything he was focusing sharply on Master Plo, hope jangling bright and discordant in his chest. "Thank the **Force**." 

"Let's get comfortable, and then we will share that," Plo agreed, as Anakin guided them. Once in the room, Kix pulled out his own anti-listening device and clicked it on.

"It's about the Orders, sir, the ones on the chips," he told Anakin, to make the opening.

"Obi-Wan was going to join us as soon as he could," Anakin said, glancing at the door and wondering what had held his Master up, "should we wait for him to get get free?" 

The mention of the chips made his jaw set and his shoulders roll back, but he kept the acidic commentary to himself. 

Kix looked at Plo, who then looked at Anakin. "How are you and he doing now? Things had been a little tense in the Temple, when you two were there together. Is everything better now?"

"Better than it's been in a while," Anakin answered, smiling at Master Plo at the question, though he didn't understand what that had to do with anything. Even when he and his Master were arguing the worst, they were still an effective team. And since Master Plo had come to the _Negotiator_ , whatever they'd found now had to relate to both of them, didn't it? 

Not that he was telling him, or anyone else, about having married his angel, but. Things were good.

"Then we shall wait. The thread requires you more than him, but his support can be useful."

Kix nodded to that just as the door opened again and Kenobi stepped in.

"Sorry to keep you. Minor issue between Phantom and Ghost companies over munitions." 

Anakin shrugged, "No worries, Master, we haven't been long. What -- never mind, I'll hear later. Master Plo's got something about the Sith." 

Obi-Wan found a seat near Anakin, and faced the other pair. "What is it? Has there been a lead in the investigations?"

Plo let out a long breath. "Actually, Obi-Wan, we are certain we know who. But first, Kix?"

"As I was saying before you got here, sir, it pertains to the Orders on the chips. Specifically, who can unilaterally issue those without it being in opposition to all of our flash training pertaining to Republic law," Kix explained, setting up the premise.

"Who could have, anyway," Anakin said, aware he was showing both his hatred for the thing and his satisfaction that they were so far along in their deactivation of it. "But... that makes sense, I guess. The Sith might not care if it was legal, but all of you do, and would." He nodded a little, watching Kix and trying to think about what he'd seen of the orders on the chips -- Master Mundi had told him not to look at that part, but he hadn't been able to resist. 

His eyes narrowed, as bits of them came back to him.

"The Orders represent, by and large, ways to eliminate pieces of the Republic itself that might interfere with the larger events at hand," Plo said. "From Senators who obstruct passage of laws, to Representatives doing the same. The Order that was executed in Kix's original timestream was one to eliminate the Jedi Order."

"Others might have been," Kix said. "I know the records on the Rebel Alliance to Restore the Republic did not list many senators and representatives I expected to see," he told them grimly. "But the Jedi Purge was in open records for the New Republic and from Imperial records alike."

Anakin felt himself tense up more at that, at the idea of Padmé and her allies probably hurt or dead, at the hands of the vod'e that were sworn to defend them, and he took a slow breath. "That's... not encouraging. Neither is the way you're tramping around the edges of whatever this is, Kix."

Kix looked him dead in the eyes then. "Well, sir, you're going to take it the worst when I tell you who the first, and only, Emperor of the Galactic Empire was… because it was the Chancellor, the Supreme Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic."

Plo braced instantly to interact directly with Anakin's mind if necessary, even as Obi-Wan turned as pale as the Phase One Armor his men wore.

Anakin stared at the man that had saved his mother, had killed the man that wanted Padmé dead and saved lives on the sands, soothed his pain from his severed hand and revealed the abominations lurking in the men he was so swiftly coming to love... and only all of that kept him from reacting in a fury. That was outrageous, insane, impossible! 

The Chancellor **couldn't** be a Sith! The whole Council was around him all the time, they'd know. And the Chancellor was his friend, had been his support and confidante for so long -- it wasn't possible. 

But... it was **Kix** telling him this, and he owed Kix more than he could ever repay. His head ached, a little, and he frowned at that, shaking his head to try and shake it off.

"But, Master… you have been there! You assured me there'd been a background check!" Obi-Wan protested, but he reached for Anakin's hand, seeking to reassure his brother in arms.

"We did. For sexual deviance, and he was clear. Very little of any untoward nature, even in his senatorial doings," Plo said. "There is a reason Kit is now serving as his consular; knowing he is guilty, I would not be able to cease prying at how he hides it."

Kix ignored them and stayed focused on Anakin. "Sir… many claim to be a friend, but are just looking for a tool of their own power. Consider that, and really look at your relationship with him," he said softly.

Anakin blinked at the yelp from his Master, his hand sliding to grip his, needing the support, as Master Plo and Kix took an AT-TE cannon to one of the foundations of his world. He was startled, distantly, at that background check mention from his Master, and more at Master Plo's response... but Kix had his focus. 

The Chancellor had been his friend for a decade, through everything he didn't understand. It felt like the worst, most awful kind of betrayal to even listen to this, to not defend him with everything he had and was -- 

\-- but Kix's words made sense, resonated with the oldest lessons he'd learned. They sounded like Mom, warning him to be careful of those with an interest in him until he knew what they wanted. 

He'd thought he knew what the Chancellor wanted... but what if he was wrong? 

No, no, he wasn't wrong, the Chancellor was -- what was he thinking? If the Chancellor had set off the chips, if Kix knew that, then he was... 

"Young one," Plo called gently, his voice warm and full of empathy for his pain. "Anakin, if I may have the privilege of being so familiar? You may have unknown compulsions placed on you. You had little in the way of defensive shields as a child."

Obi-Wan made a wordless sound of dismay, and squeezed Anakin's hand.

"I'm fine," Anakin said, before he even thought about it, and that made him frown uncertainly, the grip on his hand making him turn towards his Master. Obi-Wan looked shocked, frightened, and that scared him, made him tense his entire body and shift back in the chair. Towards Obi-Wan, though. 

He wasn't fine, his head hurt, this was insane, and... "No, I'm not," he admitted. 

Obi-Wan shifted and reached out, taking the prosthetic hand too. "I'm here with you, Anakin. I know I have been .... difficult about your friendship with him, but this… I don't want it to be true. 

"Yet if you are feeling strange, what can it hurt to let Master Plo help you? He is a mind-healer, bound by tight ethics to keep it solely to his patient, no matter what." That was the closest he could come to saying he knew Anakin was hiding a relationship.

Weirdly, that his Master didn't want it to be true, didn't want to accept the idea, helped calm him down at least a little. He sucked a breath, looking at his Master's face, and weighed what Kix had told him -- it was still so insane, so ridiculous... 

...but his head was hurting worse. 

The comment about confidentiality made him side-eye his Master, wary for a moment, but... he wouldn't say that if it wasn't true. He turned his head to look at Master Plo, and almost flinched away again. This was just nuts. 

He reached into the Force, opening himself to it -- and it thrummed with encouragement even as it twanged discordantly with agitation and unease. "Even the Force is confused," he muttered darkly, clinging to both of his Master's hands. "I -- guess it couldn't hurt worse than my head already does?" 

"I will try, very hard, to not cause pain," Plo promised him. He then gently reached for the young man's mind. ~Here. Let me look and see what I may find.~

Kix breathed a slow sigh of relief that the head-on method had worked, to get his general to see reason.

Anakin half-flinched away, but... ~Hello, Master,~ he thought, and tried not to grab for every defense he had. This... this was important, this was about protecting his men, his friends, about finding an end to the war and the deaths. He had to be strong enough for that. 

~Oh you are strong enough,~ Plo said, encouraging that thought. ~You are a good Knight, Anakin. Believe in that, and what guides you to be one.~ Carefully, the Kel Dor prodded the whispers behind the pain, those calls to get away, to ignore the situation. ~These, though… are not you.~

~What?~ Anakin asked, his head tipping slightly, even though in the mindscape that was sort of a bad idea, and the ache in his mind and the need to dismiss everything and flickers of hot fury twisted around each other in a somewhat nauseating tangle. ~I... thank you, Master. Not... not me?~ 

~No, not you. So, this is what we will do. You and I will find them, these vile whispers, and evict them from your mind and will.~ Plo let his own confidence wrap around Anakin. ~I will not lose my brother's Foundling to a Sith, as I lost him.~

~Your brother?~ Anakin asked, curious and startled, even as that warm, steady confidence curled around him protectively. ~And... yes. We need to find those things. I don't **like** them.~ 

~Qui was one of five of us, and the last left in my life,~ Plo told the young man, even as he began detecting the foreign intrusions in Anakin's mind. ~Infant Kel Dor are rather quick to weave new mental nets when placed with others, away from Dorin,~ he continued. ~We five were something of a terror in the Temple as youths, even, because of our complete awareness of each other.~

~Really?~ Anakin asked, fascinated. He could barely imagine Master Plo or Master Qui-Gon as **younglings** , but the thought of them as one of the kind of close youngling-clan groups he'd avoided most in the Temple was... kind of... cute? Also a nice distraction from the feel of Master Plo rifling around in his head. ~That, I... oh, **ow** ,~ he winced as Master Plo tugged at something that made him whine. 

~I am sorry.~ Plo did something and things felt a little numb in Anakin's mind. ~All people start young.~ He shared an image, the five of them piled up in their favorite meditation room, with Plo himself at the bottom of the pile. ~My Master took a holo of that moment, which is how I can show you the entirety of it,~ he added. ~That's your Finder using my left leg as his head rest.~

~That -- that... is really Master Qui-Gon? I... he's so little!~ Anakin was shocked, and also, the boy was adorable. Not at all like Master Qui-Gon's craggy, determined features. ~I don't... think I know any of the other -- oh, I'm sorry, Master, I'm sorry...~ 

He hadn't even finished the question, and he'd already felt Master Plo's pain. He tried to wrap around it, to soothe away what he'd done. 

~Oh, dear young one, no. My pain is old, and I am moving forward, finally, from it,~ Plo said, trying to settle the young man. ~The girl is Tahl. She taught Bant Eerin first but died when Obi-Wan was … sixteen, I think. The one sprawled against my other leg is Ky Narec, who left in Obi-Wan's first padawan year to explore. 

~And the one with his head on my chest is… Micah Giiett.~ There in Plo's mind, that name bloomed with loyalty, love, lifelong attachment. ~He was killed most of a year before Qui.~

~Knight Swan's other Master,~ Anakin said, able to place that name fairly easily, if mostly from Aayla. ~Oh... they all left you... and you were so mad, before we left...~

Kriff, he hadn't meant to say that! 

Plo sighed, in that private space he now shared with Anakin. ~He set Obi-Wan back nearly to the beginning, reminding him that he hadn't been the wanted padawan,~ Plo said gently. ~Yes, I was angry. With Qui. For hurting the padawan he'd refused for so long to let go of.~

~Master Obi-Wan wasn't... what? But... he -- they were so...~ The memory flicked up, Master Qui-Gon and Master Obi-Wan looking at each other, communicating in a glance and lost in their own private world, terrifyingly effective together and the most amazing thing he'd ever seen. That was easier to think about than the idea it hadn't been him Master Plo was mad at, that all of that crackling displeasure had been at Master Qui-Gon, that -- yeah, no. That later, maybe. 

~I... never really thought...~ he admitted, slowly, ~about how much that... I'd -- if my Master had ever -- ~ He would probably have tried to kill either the foundling, Obi-Wan, or himself, and he had no idea which. And instead of any of that, his Master had taken him in and taught him, kept him close, never shown -- 

Ow, ow, ow... 

~There was much love between them,~ Plo murmured even as he extricated a very long threat to Anakin that was wrapped up in his complicated feelings around Obi-Wan. ~But it was hard won on both sides, I think. And that moment was… difficult. That Obi-Wan honored his promise to his master in taking you, and then gave you that love too? Tells me they made peace before death occurred.~

Anakin had shuddered through Master Plo working on that, on the thing he could half-see, coiled sick and rotting around his love for and anger with his Master, and he tightened his hands on his Master out in the physical world. He was a little dizzy, now, his head and heart feeling... off, with that gone... but it... wasn't... bad. ~I -- I'm glad. They were... oh, _Master_...~ 

He loved him so much, and he'd known losing Master Qui-Gon had hurt him terribly, but he hadn't... he hadn't really realized. Sometimes, he really was incredibly selfish. Mom would scold him. 

At least Mom **could** scold him. 

~Without this infiltration, Anakin, I think you and Obi-Wan will be even better than ever… and you both should lean into that in these dark times.~ Plo Koon ached with missing his own support, but he still had all of his padawans, so many Foundlings, and the intriguing possibility of sons, if Kix was certain of that connection-to-be.

As Plo was distracting Anakin with talk of connections in the Temple, and more about Anakin's own line, Obi-Wan just let the younger man keep his hands, trying to give the support he'd failed at too many times, apparently. Kix watched, until it was clear this was going to be a lengthy ordeal, and tipped his head back to doze, like the good soldier he was.

Several times, through the long, agonizing process of freeing his mind -- and finding things Master Plo said gently that they would talk about later -- Anakin's hands tightened convulsively on his Master, clinging to him even only barely aware of the real world. Tears slid from half-closed eyes, more than once, and when he sucked a breath and opened his eyes again, it was only to topple sideways into his beloved Master and brother's body, butting his head against his shoulder exhaustedly. 

Obi-Wan didn't hesitate; he wrapped an arm around Anakin and cradled him in close but looked at Plo. Kix's eyes opened as well, taking it all in.

"It… was hard on him," Plo said. "I am maintaining a shield around his mind, but Initiate Tano is here to teach him Teräs Käsi disciplines, so he can do so on his own effectively, once he is rested.

"Kix…."

Plo didn't have to say any more as the medic rose and moved to be under the tall man's arm when he stood. "I'll guide you back to the ship, so you can breathe and rest too, sir," Kix said.

Anakin opened one eye slightly, looking towards Master Plo, then gave up and closed it again, shifting more against his Master. He was so tired, mentally, emotionally and even physically, because using the Force used the body. 

"I have you, Anakin." Obi-Wan would have preferred to get his former padawan to a bed, and stretched out, but the men would not take it well to see him carting an unconscious, or near-unconscious, Anakin to quarters. "Rest against me, until I am called for something else."

"Okay," Anakin said softly, then twisted to get himself more snugly tucked against him, safe and warm and held, his mind exhausted enough that sleep came in mere moments, dragging him under.


	7. Nearing the Cusp

Of course battle found them, a full Separatist fleet, before Ahsoka's role was explained to Anakin, or Plo had left. Anakin was at least conscious again, and took to the fight as something constructive to hold back the emotional cost of the previous day. Kix reported to medical… and tried not to let the oddness of seeing his not-quite shiny self in charge, with Helix as his right hand, bother him.

As Ahsoka was technically a non-combatant, she tucked into an out of the way spot on the bridge to observe, and do what she could to learn, as she hoped to be a real padawan sometime soon in the future.

Plo, meanwhile, joined Anakin in space, his flying nearly as inspired and inertia-defying as Anakin's was. Obi-Wan coordinated from the bridge of the _Negotiator_ , aware of the Initiate, but allowing her presence as he worked. The attack had begun with severe damage to one of his three capital ships, and he was doing all he could to minimize the Seppies chance of getting to it any further.

Anakin was throwing himself at that goal with single-minded intensity, keeping his awareness on his men and the threats, though it was hard to track the Force-blank droids. It wasn't hard to know where Master Plo had the men Obi-Wan had willingly assigned him, though, and having him out here was a huge help. The continual chatter on the pilots' band was a comfort as he spun his Aethersprite out of the way of a bolt from the Seppie cruiser -- and that took out one of the droid ships behind him. 

That was useful, at least. He dodged again, and with a corner of his mind wondered how best to go after the cruiser. Plo seemed to be having a similar thought, as he was directing his squad to scramble the droid fighters a little more, disrupting the pattern around the cruiser. The pilots were responding well to the suggestions, just as Anakin's were and those listening to commands from their tactical officers on the capital ships. 

"Skywalker, I will lead a strike that appears to go for the control deck level," Plo told him after a few more passes and jockeying, which had included the Kel Dor flying through a fireball where a droid ship had been. "You are in prime position to take out the starboard engine when my squad throws chaff in their sensors. We can then regroup and truly go for the deck together. Agreed?"

"Absolutely, Master," he answered, nodding sharply even though he couldn't be seen at all. "Right behind you. Men, copy?" 

"Yes sir!" came in several voices, and Anakin settled to the task ahead of him -- surviving long enough to pull that off. Soon, it was his turn, and he took his squad down in and had the satisfaction of looking back to see the starboard engine implode from their firepower while he was regrouping to turn that second planned attack with Master Plo. 

He hated having to destroy so many droids to get at the flesh-and-blood people making the decisions to wage this war, to kill and maim and destroy, but the challenge of the combat and flight was a thrill that expanded his senses in a way that made him feel so vibrantly, completely alive. And the faster they finished off this ship, the more of his men would live. 

Best reason to work faster. 

The other squadron regrouped, the bombers safely behind the faster fighters, staggered out but in a vaguely broadhead arrow point with four vertices. Plo was on an edge of one of those lines, looking the field over with satisfaction. 

"Skywalker, the option of point is yours," he called as the squads prepared the next run.

"Thank you, Master!" Anakin called back, "we'll take it!" 

He gave quick orders, joining his men with Master Plo's and setting up the attack, pushing it fast and intent as the cruiser toppled sideways, the sudden absence of the starboard engine turning it. He lost two of his wing to a new batch of droid fighters, but they punched through the shielding and transparisteel of the control deck, Master Plo's bombers sending their payloads in, and those explosions rippled deeper and deeper into the hull, as the droid fighters stalled or streaked away randomly or crashed into each other. 

"Very well done, Skywalker," Plo called as the men shouted jubilation in their comms. They all streaked out and away, then circled back to a cohesive unit to rain fire down on the crippled vessel.

It did not take long before the fleet cut its losses, trying to get clear of the debris field, trying to jump… and the capital ships under Obi-Wan's direction waved off the light fighters to turn loose more volleys of turbolaser fire.

Anakin had whooped himself, uncaring of dignity for a moment, and he was grateful to swoop back closer to their ships with his men, breathing a quiet sigh of relief. There would be a lot of cleanup, but the worst of it was probably over, with the other capital ships trying to flee. "Thanks, Master," he said more politely. 

"No need. We needed to end it swiftly, for the men." Plo was already scanning for distressed pilots, looking for ships that were damaged, but not destroyed. He directed his men toward those, to protect them from stragglers as the battle moved toward its end.

"Indeed," Anakin replied, and hearing Master Plo's directions, set his fighters to guarding the ones rescuing, while he watched for any droids still functional. Another of the capital ships died to turbolaser fire before it could escape, and then the last did escape. 

He still wasn't much of a healer, but... he told both Masters he was heading for the worst-hit ship, intending to do what he could for the wounded it had to have. And he might be able to be useful in the repairs, too. Everything he knew about ships had to be good for something. 

+++

Ahsoka was no healer. She never had been, despite having befriended Knight Nimpur, and through her, getting in Master Che's good graces.

But she knew first aid and she was strong in the Force, able to lift and move people from berth to berth. She put her time in with the _Negotiator_ 's wounded, and those transferred over from the crippled capital ship. 

She then went and curled up in a quiet spot, munched on the jerky she carried, and fell asleep. She wasn't worried about not being found when needed; Master Plo could touch her mind from anywhere!

So it was that she found herself blinking awake as her Finder entered the ready room she had chosen as a napping place, and looked past to see who was with him.

The Initiate was sort of cute, Anakin thought, sitting up and blinking sleep out of her eyes. Small, and plump-cheeked, but solidly muscled. Her clothes had to be some kind of traditional garment like Master Luminara's, because they definitely weren't Temple-issue. But they looked... right on her, in some indefinable way. 

He envied her the nap she'd had, but he could sleep later. Right now, he needed to meet her, and maybe get a start on protecting his own mind, rather than be reliant on Master Plo's shielding. 

"Ahsoka, Knight Skywalker has not slept yet, but we wanted to get you settled to your duties so that I and Kix can return to the Temple," Plo said.

"Alright, Master." She then looked directly at Anakin, smiling with the corners of her teeth hidden. It was better that way, and one reason Lissarkh usually only smiled with family or close friends. "Hello, master. I hope it doesn't bother you that I'm only an Initiate, but I promise I've been studying Teräs Käsi since I was about four with Bul-- Knight Swan and Master Fisto. 

"They thought it would be good for me to have the focus," she added.

"Hi," Anakin answered, and he smiled back at her. After so long with Master Plo in his head, he felt like he knew her at least a little already. "It's nice to meet you, and... I don't mind. I mean, I worry about you being out here, but the learning from you part is fine." 

It might actually be easier this way, since he wasn't going to be as worried about what she thought of him as he still would with a Master or senior Knight. 

"Alright. I promised Master Plo that I would stay out of the way in combat, know where the escape pods were, and help in the aftermath." She listed them by rote. "I won't add to your worries, I promise."

Now, if they got boarded by some chance… well, she was a wicked fighter.

"Thank you, again, Anakin, for allowing her to aid you," Plo told the young man. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I will have one of your men get her travel kit and then leave. I want to get started on the next phase of this swiftly."

"Of course, Master, and may the Force be with you," Anakin agreed, having nodded at the listing of promises. They were good ones, for an Initiate out of the Temple. "There's an open set of quarters next to mine, Ahsoka, they should be okay for you..." 

She probably ought to have a little more supervision than that, but it was Obi-Wan's quarters that had the attached room for a padawan, not his, and he didn't want to give her the wrong idea. 

"Thank you, master," she told him. "Master Plo? May the Force be with you… and don't forget to eat!"

Plo chuckled, nodded at her, and then left, while Ahsoka prepared to follow Anakin to the room he had mentioned. She could stand to get the stink off of her from the adrenaline of the fight… and then find the mess again.

+++

Getting back to the Temple caused a notable improvement in Plo Koon's mood, Kix realized quickly. The Kel Dor was worried over the war, hurting because of all the deaths in the brief space battle, and fretting that Ahsoka would get herself in trouble, or worse.

Yet, as they passed the outer perimeter of the Temple grounds, heading into the small bay for Jedi vessels there, the man straightened and his tusks flexed in anticipation. Kix was learning to read those almost as well as Wolffe could.

"What is it, sir?"

"A development in our favor, it seems," Plo told him with deep pleasure. "Master Yoda and the team working with him have coaxed information out of the ship we captured from the Count."

"Oh!" Kix's eyes went wide with his amazement at that; he'd nearly given up on it yielding any secrets.

"Now, we have to sift through it, and determine how best to handle this."

+++

The full Council was brought together; those that had been away from Coruscant had been recalled by Yoda who convened the meeting as soon as the last of them arrived.

Kix was present in his official position and as the expert, so to speak, on what would have happened.

"Found communications, we did. Voice pattern analyzer, useless it was." Yoda said these words and Kix deflated a little. "Origin point of communications, revealed. No recordings of that place, possible they were."

How did the little man manage to sound so optimistic when none of that was helpful in the least?

"We have the place under surveillance now, just in case," Master Mundi said as Yoda paused. "And we have transcribed the recordings, as well as made copies."

"How do you mean to use this?" Master Tiin asked, and Kix had his opinion of the man being contrarian by nature reinforced.

"The recordings and transcripts will be played in the Senate, openly," Master Windu said. "With the originating point confirmed by CorSec as being here, on planet. We plan to use this as leverage to keep the war on cautious footing, as it is enough proof that the Sith is highly placed within the governing body."

"And?" Master Ti asked, eyes glittering, as Plo had told her the full scope to silence her objections over Ahsoka taking a position on a warship before she had been assigned to a master.

"We will be observing, with hopes of the recordings forcing some behavior outwardly suspicious enough to warrant pointing it out to CorSec," Master Mundi said. "The trap Masters Koon and Tiin were warned of is being nullified throughout the Fleet. Deploying it among the Guard is a bit tricky, but we think we will have that accomplished soon. Under the guise of eliminating potential spy technology in their barracks.

"It will leave the ones on duty at risk but the bulk of them will be taken care of then."

Master Ti looked contemplative then.

"All of this is well and fine, Masters," Kix said, "but don't you think he will be prepared for early suspicions, and deflect them back on the Order? By, oh, saying you are posturing fear and conspiracy to increase the Order's presence in all of this?"

"Alongside the recordings, Medic Kix, will be a list of every senator, representative, and other official within the Senate that has had their terms extended by the state of emergency, and deals made between those parties. Out of context of knowing there is a traitor... normal politics," Master Windu told him. "With that context, more than enough bait for those parties with legitimate concerns and designs on power to believe our case."

Kix looked skeptical. "Won't that weaken the defenses of the Republic though, if the Senate falls to squabbling over who the traitor is?"

That gave them all pause, as they considered, and it was Master Tiin who spoke. "We will have to appeal to the side which demands peace above all to make certain the war is conducted in a defensive mode, and maintain the fact that Jedi will not wage a war of deceit or aggression.

"I believe all parties that are mid-Rim and further out will see the need for that. Backed by Core systems like Alderaan, it should work, even in the chaos of trying to unmask the true culprit."

Kix wasn't so sure, at all, that they weren't putting far too much trust in the Senate... but he didn't see that many other choices, either. They did have to find some way of flushing the Sith out, and that cowardly filth was not going to be easily dislodged. They had to start somewhere, and evidence that someone in the Republic was colluding with the Separatists _should_ help. 

"I can't come up with anything else," he admitted, nodding. 

"Publicizing this in Separatist space will be the mission of several Jedi and recon troops," Master Mundi said. "It is hoped that we can fracture their alliances, if they know both sides are being manipulated to war."

"And, Force willing, it may set Dooku on edge enough to purposefully betray the Sith on our side, in hopes of keeping his power there," Plo said, grim at the idea. "It will make dislodging him harder, but reduce the face of our enemy to one." 

Shaak Ti hummed, low in her throat, the sound a dangerous one. "Possibly... or it might convince the other Separatists to be rid of him. We can't know which of those it may be, but I can hope." 

Kix nodded. Predicting what the Seppies would do seemed pretty well impossible, but some of the worlds might come back, and that would help. 

Master Yoda made a noise, but no one dared tried to interpret it. That Dooku was his own student, and Fallen, weighed heavily on the Master even as he did all he could to mitigate the effect Dooku had.

"That is where we stand, and may the Force be with us all," Master Windu said, indicating the meeting was at an end.

There was little enough else to say, to that. Kix did not want to be in the Senate that day, he decided wholeheartedly. He would watch the holofeed, or listen to a comm.


	8. In the End

With an unusual show of temper, Kit Fisto flung himself down on the other end of the couch from Kix, while Plo was sitting in his chair calmly.

"That… wretched, vile, waste of sentience accepted that he step down… and is now Naboo's Representative because Binks got booted for having gone against Naboo policy to vote in the use of the men as the Republic Army!"

Plo made a considering noise, then looked at Kix. "Assassination attempt on Amidala within a few weeks, to allow him to be reappointed to the Senator's position?" he inquired, considering the likely steps. "Thus bringing him back to a focal position, and causing difficulty on personal levels?" He did not say 'for Skywalker' but it was implied to Kix, protecting him from Kit's scrutiny.

"Almost certain," Kix agreed, nodding once, sharply, as a swell of fury built in him. That was exactly like the man -- but his General **couldn't** lose the Senator. If she died... well. He wouldn't give Sidious the satisfaction of his Fall, but he was far too likely to get himself killed trying to avenge her. 

Kit looked alarmed. "We can't lose her. She underpins the entire sane side of peaceful resolution while understanding the systems need to be defended against Separatist aggression."

"I know, Kit. We have to nullify it, but what vector will the threat come from? How soon? How best to keep Amidala herself from alerting him that we know, as warning her likely would do?"

Plo considered all these aspects, trying to see how best to protect the men, the Republic, Amidala, and the Order. He ached for Micah's genius at these puzzles, to have the solid support of his lifelong bondmate through this crisis.

Kit didn't even have to taste the air to know his Finder was thinking of his lost mate -- and honestly, Kit was, too. Micah would be able to see the way through this, be able to spindle the pieces into an arrangement that made sense, that would let them defend her. 

Kix chewed on his lip, puzzling over that same question. They could not lose the Senator, that was all there was to it -- but how in _haran_ could they actually protect her? The Sith had so many powers, and then there were the purely physical tools that were all too easy to use on someone that trusted you... if you were a cowardly backstabbing treasonous piece of spineless filth, anyway. 

"The assassin you mentioned, Kix, in one of our last planning sessions, the one you feel caused the losses at Mygeeto… do you think she is likely to be called to this?" Plo asked. "Or do you believe he is more likely to do this, rather than risk one of the Separatists being found on Coruscant? As it would make no sense for them to assassinate her at this stage."

"No, it would not, and it did come up that her bodyguard's death and subsequent events could have been provoked by either the traitor or the Separatists before the war, to provoke events. Now? She impedes the full war effort some have called for," Kit said.

"I don't think he'd call the witch here," Kix agreed, "wouldn't make sense. Especially now that Gunray's dead. There's no profit for them in it. No, he'll have to arrange this himself, I think." 

"That does limit our options, I feel. She must be warned, and then we must see about placing a Guardian among her security, with others near at hand," Plo said. "Discreetly."

"That will tip him off, even if she can guard her mind," Kit said dubiously. 

"Yes, but it also gives us access to her, her abilities, and her inside knowledge to begin finding a way to break his grip on the power he's gained."

And keeps my General safe, Kix didn't say. He nodded his agreement, glad they'd thought themselves to that they had to tell her. "I can take the message to her, sirs -- she'll believe me. Leaves you time to pick the right Guardian. Too bad there aren't Clawdite Jedi -- there aren't, are there?" 

"No, sadly." Plo was flicking through the options he had for this, and wished young Secura wasn't already in the field. She might have been ideal, given her own ability to discern patterns and threats.

"Do be careful, Kix," Kit told him. "I hate for you to take the risk, but it is imperative she believe, and not warn him directly."

"I will be," he promised, and meant it. He had gotten used to civilian clothing and worked kriffing hard at breaking the gait that marked every _vod_ when it was necessary, and his long hair and extra years helped disguise him when he wanted it to, too. "No reason to wait, is there?" 

"None at all, my friend," Plo said warmly, shifting to rise himself. "I believe I shall go find Garen Muln, and see if he is recovered enough to aid us in this."

"Bant's friend! He is back, and surely his leg is up to the task of delaying whatever threat comes!" Kit said, smiling at last. Bant's circle of friends delighted him, mostly, with their antics.

Kix made a curious noise, but got up to go and see to getting himself to the Senatorial apartments. 

+++

Between the Jedi credentials he carried and his name, it actually didn't take long to get to the Senator -- amazingly enough. He bowed to her, rather than salute the way his hand ached to, as they said hello. 

"It is good to see you," Padmé said, before her near twin stepped out of the bedroom. "Kix, my dearest friend, Sabé. Sabé, I've told you about Kix."

"Indeed. It is good to meet the man behind the story," the twin said, before she held up a small device, flicking it on to create a noise-shield against listening devices. "You've come on business, and we mean to keep it quiet, good sir."

Kix smiled, and couldn't help the comment of "Proving why half my brothers were more than half in love with all of you," that fell from his lips. "I'd have asked, if you hadn't brought it out so quick." 

Sabé smiled at him, setting it between them when they settled in a close set of furniture. "Your brothers' affections would be an honor, from all I have heard and observed." She then looked at Padmé to let her have control of the conversation.

"Anything you would tell me, she may hear," Padmé assured Kix. "She has been with me through all of my public life, and currently leads a particular security agency for our system."

"Oh, good," Kix said, relaxing a little. "Maybe you can find what the Order can't, on your own world. Senator, you remember I didn't tell you who the other Sith was? You **have** to know, now, to keep yourself alive." 

The two women exchanged a glance, and then Padmé's lips thinned out to almost nothing. "Don't say it aloud, even with the jammer, Kix. We'd been working on narrowing it down, which is why Sabé is here."

"Your words confirmed my suspicion," Sabé told him. "And you are right. It's the logical next step."

Kix blinked once, then grinned, sharp and pleased at the brilliance of the women in his General's life. "I'm just as glad not to, honestly. Senator... Master Koon spent a significant amount of time on the _Negotiator_ , recently, to free my General from what had been done to him." 

Padmé actively sighed with relief to hear that, and Sabé reached over to take her hand in reassurance.

"Oh, I'm glad of that," the Senator said. "Pretty certain he would be immune to the easier to acquire poisons…" she mused aloud.

"In this case, unless we can find evidence posthumously, assassination is not the correct answer," Sabé cautioned.

"I know. He has to be exposed," Padmé said, her eyes glittering. "I just would like to poison him. Dismember the body. Set it on fire. And dispose of it in a quasar."

Kix chuckled, smiling sharply at his dangerous Senator's fury. "I am right there with you on that, Senator," he said, doing his best to throw all of his agreement into his voice. "But Lady Sabé is right, too."

"As long as he does pay for all the deaths," Padmé said. 

"He will." Sabé then looked at Kix. "What plan does the Order have?" She settled in to get the details, even as her mind ticked over ways to dig up the necessary evidence to actually accuse the man openly and have it stick.

+++

Garen Muln knew, once Kit and Plo briefed him fully, that he was not necessarily to engage so much as warn and make as big a fuss as he could when the Sith struck. He was still overwhelmed at the idea that the former Chancellor was the Sith, but he believed Kit Fisto. He'd known the other master most of his own apprentice years, because of Bant.

He had a team of anonymous Sentinels salted into the Naboo security force that answered directly to Captain Typho, whom the Senator trusted with all of her heart.

Ostensibly, Garen was shadowing the Senator to learn the political scene, explaining his presence at her side almost constantly. The trio of Sentinels had taken the place of three guards, all of whom were having a nice little holiday at one of Coruscant's retreat habitats.

The first week was completely without issue. Padmé Amidala seemed to be growing more and more fatigued, though, to Garen's eyes.

A med droid could find no cause for it, and he almost dismissed it as paranoia on his part.

Almost.

"He had a lot of access to you when you were younger, didn't he?" Garen asked under the cover of heavy traffic noise, leaning his head over as they walked along a skyway.

"Yes. My mentor, actually, as I progressed in civil action," she admitted.

"I think he's using the Force to weaken you, somehow," Garen told her softly. "Obi-Wan… Kenobi?"

"I know him," she said, smiling at the thought of the other Jedi.

"He and his master had this trick of sharing energies. I think he can do it with his… well, not a padawan anymore… with Anakin. What if that can be turned around, to steal energy? I mean, he's looking pretty spry for a man in his sixties, just coming off a very stressful decade of politics."

Padmé did not outwardly frown, keeping the smile on for any watchers, but her eyes shifted. "How do we fix it?"

"I think I'm going to have to ask a master that," Garen told her, half-shrugging a shoulder. "I don't even know if I am right, but it's a theory for now."

"Alright. Kix said to trust you. I do."

"I'm glad of that, Milady."

+++

Padmé had Anakin's opinion and her own experiences to go by, which made the fact that it was Master Yoda arriving less than thrilling. However, Garen had been a diligent and kind protector, so she had to hope for the best.

"Afflicted, Knight Muln believes, with Sith powers draining you," Yoda said after the initial greeting. "Of Sith powers, know little we still do. Long perished we thought. Look into this matter, I have come for."

"I hope that your investigation helps the Republic, in the long term, Master Jedi," Padmé said as she made herself be at ease and think only of the growing fatigue, the endless apathy that had been rising, making it so difficult to get out of bed and do what she needed to.

"As do I," Yoda agreed, as he sat next to her, one hand reaching lightly for hers. He slipped into communion with the Force, evaluating her with those senses rather than the physical ones. 

Whereas she had always appeared so strong in the Force to him before, one that he knew was likely sensitive but not an active user, now she seemed pale and faded. Nor, as he searched, was she alone within the energies of the Force, as a shroud seemed to be there, leeching away her vitality. 

A thin, almost invisible trail came away from this shroud, leading, he could presume, to the Sith that had done this to her.

He made a quiet, displeased noise, and moved to intervene. There should be a way to cut the connection, as it was not her, and not of the Light Side, if he could but focus in the right way. Aloud, he said, "Correct, Knight Muln is. Deal with it, I shall attempt." 

She did not bare her teeth in defiance of the man that had apparently groomed her as an unwitting puppet, used the death of her people to forward his climb to power, and then set the galaxy into war… but it was a near thing.

"Do whatever it takes, Master Jedi, to end this. I am not willing to lose a fight against such corruption of all I hold dear!"

+++

Palpatine had scoured the notes from his master and perfected this particular aspect of Force manipulation. He'd been using it for years to heal his own injuries, incurred in the rare moments he had to deal with something directly. He'd augmented his strength more than once, in dueling the proud Count, by stealing the Count's own energy from him.

To use it to slowly kill the meddlesome brat who had reached the end of her usefulness had been the next logical step.

He did not expect to have that discovered; the technique was arcane and outside the Jedi Order's precious beliefs. Now, though, something was prying at the hold he had on Amidala.

He had to extricate himself from the meeting he was in, hastening to his residence, a paltry apartment now compared to the quarters he'd had as Chancellor. The whole while, he asserted his hold over the shroud on the girl, refusing to accede to the demands of leaving her alone. 

Once safely inside, he reached further into the Force, scrying out the culprit to find a distinct feeling of age and implacable serenity.

"The ancient one himself," Palpatine cackled, as he decided to cast his shroud on that bounty of Force energies, willing to sacrifice his hold over Padmé in exchange for draining Yoda of his life.

Yoda had felt something like this once before, on a planet he preferred not to think of, and he struck out at the attempt and being netted by calling on his ally, pushing the energy-net away much as he would a physical one. He had struggled with other Dark Side force users, in his many centuries, and not always on the physical plane... he was not entirely unequipped for this. And the cloying, sick feel of the Dark Side only strengthened his resolve. 

The Force answered them both, evenly, as the Force was neither Dark nor Light in its totality. However, the Force also did not consider itself bound to a master, and that was what Palpatine wished to be. It would never serve as slave to a single being, and the will of the Force shifted, steadily, to side with the servant of the Light that only ever called upon it as ally.

Physically, the effort to cast the net and not catching his prey drew on Palpatine's own life force, bringing him away from peak strength and health little by little. Knowing what he could have in the end, Palpatine redoubled his efforts, trying to win the battle, certain he could not fail...even as his life shriveled within him for the perversion he was casting out from him in order to snare the ancient one's lifeforce.

Yoda thought that he could sense the man harming himself, as so many that chose this path did in the end, and he continued to fight, to defend himself and the Senator, and all the other lives at risk. There must be an end to this, for the sake of all the young ones. He batted the encircling net away again and again, growing tired but trusting in the Force to see him through what must be done. 

There came one last attempt… and the net fell from him even before he batted it away, as all grasp on the Force suddenly shifted to his hold in this battle of wills. Fortunately, Yoda knew better than to contain it, and shunted it out, to find and help those who needed it more.

There was no further attack, and the shroud on Amidala was gone.

"Master Jedi?" she was calling to him, unaware that in an apartment none too far away, a man that had once been the center of events had fallen to the floor, a shriveled husk of who he had been before.

He breathed in, and out, and opened his eyes to look at her, bringing a soft smile to his lips to reassure her. "Well, I am," he told her, "and much better, you appear. Better, you feel?" 

"Yes… I don't want to just close my eyes and go to sleep where I am sitting." Padmé returned his smile, slightly, then got serious. "Did you learn anything that will help us?"

"Aware, I was, who my opponent was." Yoda said with a half-shake of his head. "The assault on you, very clever, he likely thought. Not so. If he is unconscious only, or gone into the Force, that, I do **not** know. Uncertain, I am. if dead he is, difficult this will be." 

The Senator frowned, then brightened. "If he is dead, I will have to have all of his belongings catalogued and packed up, as he has no kin to summon for that. Perhaps… if he did inconveniently die, there will be evidence."

"True, true," Yoda agreed, nodding. "Clever, you are. And if he has suddenly died, alone, an investigation there must be." 

"Indeed, Master Jedi." She inclined her head to him. "May I offer you food or a drink before you go?" There were obligations to manage first… and then she could get to the matter of exposing the Sith for all he had done.

+++

Kix sat back, beside Master Plo, in the observation spot for the Jedi. Charges were being leveled, posthumously, based on things found in the belongings of Sheev Palpatine. From him, other charges were likely, based on dealings that had led to his ascension and centralization of power through various emergency acts.

The fury with which Padmé Amidala had delivered the accusations, borne out by CorSec's thorough inspection of the apartment, had satisfied Kix to no end.

"What now?" he asked Plo.

"The war will remain. But negotiations may resume with individual systems once we break the news fully. Some of the Separatist powers may not have realized they were being double-blinded into the war.

"Others may have, but… we do what we can."

"And my brothers?" Kix asked.

Plo looked at him intently. "I, and the rest of the Jedi, will be pushing very hard for recognition of your brothers as citizens. Kit and I have approached friendly systems, seeking to find citizenship for you all among the systems, to bypass the Senate entirely.

"And then… the war will change. As we do not conscript citizens."

"Most of my brothers will enlist no matter what," Kix said.

"That may be the truth, but they must have a choice."

Kix nodded, then sat back to watch the proceedings. They'd probably drag out, possibly even longer than the war, depending on how things went behind enemy lines. But he had hope now, hope for all of his brothers, and his _jetiise_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where does it go from here? I invite you all to imagine the Ever After they face now. Without a Sith manipulator, the possibilities are endless.
> 
> If you have read our other works, you may have recognized the tactic here as a variant on one used in "Diverted Destinies". Apologies if the repetition was a let-down.
> 
> Thank you, as ever, for all the support for our writing. You are all wonderful readers!


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